


The Will of Fire Takes Many Forms

by NinjaSun00



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F, F/M, Good Uchiha Sasuke, M/M, Multi, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2019-07-14 11:04:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 59,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16039181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaSun00/pseuds/NinjaSun00
Summary: Naruto was acting strange.  Sasuke wanted to fight him, needed to fight him.  He'd just been beaten down by his brother, and he needed to prove to himself that he wasn't weak.But Naruto refused to fight, and soon after- disappeared.





	1. Winter is Coming

**Author's Note:**

> A/N - This idea was somewhat inspired by blackkat's Stormborn. I kind of love a pining Sasuke, but tbh most of the stories where Naruto leaves Konoha seem OOC. While Konoha definitely didn't treat Naruto right, I don't see any evidence of mobs and foxhunts (unless there's something in the non-canon anime that I've skipped over, or extra material I've missed.) Plus, Naruto loves Konoha. It's one of the main features of his character. Konoha, and his desire to be Hokage. Stormborn helped give a legit reason for Naruto to leave - reincarnation, Uzushio, and becoming Uzukage. I wondered what it would take to do so, without using the reincarnation plot.
> 
> When I think about why Naruto would leave, then, I'm left with one thing. His desire to protect. If he knew what was going to happen...if he knew that Pein would destroy Konoha (even if he miraculously revived everyone later), if he knew Jiraiya, Asuma, and Neji would die, if he knew about all the deaths in the Fourth Shinobi War...would he really stay in Konoha, and let an S-Class organization destroy his village? Maybe, if this was a time travel fic, or he didn't have another alternative. In this story, however, he does.
> 
> Updated: Thanks to Iriidescent03 for offering to beta. I've made a few changes to this first chapter. :)

Sasuke fumed. He had been so…weak. Powerless. Comatose in a hospital for weeks while his idiot teammate managed to bring back a Sannin! He’d finally had the chance to fight his brother, and Itachi had beaten him like he was nothing! All those long, grueling hours and he fared no better than he did when he was seven. Somehow, the dead last had become more and more powerful, and have even managed to defeat Gaara. And when he finally confronted his brother, Itachi blew him off. He was more interested in Naruto than Sasuke: ignored his own brother to go after the idiot!

He needed more power. He needed to grow even stronger. He needed to know just how strong Naruto was, see if that loser had somehow become stronger than him. He couldn’t have…there’s no way!

The door slid open, and the idiot stepped into the room. Sasuke sent a glare his way, but Naruto had a distracted air, and didn’t even seem to notice. Sasuke scowled. _The nerve of him!_

“Hey… Naruto,” Sasuke started.

Naruto shook his head, as if to clear it, and looked at Sasuke. “Wha..What?”

“Fight me... NOW!” Naruto grew quiet, a strange look crossing his face.

“No.”

Sakura looked up in shock, but didn’t say a word. She felt frozen ever since Sasuke knocked her plate of apples over. This dark and angry version of her love scared her.

“No?!?” Sasuke couldn’t believe it. The idiot, the one who never backed down, refusing to fight?   

“No” Naruto firmly replied. “Not today.” He paused, mouth opening, then silently closing.

Sasuke barreled on. “You thought you’d helped me? That foolish Fifth Hokage or whoever ... butting into other people’s business.”

Naruto looked angry. Finally, Sasuke was getting to him! Or so he thought… “Dammit Sasuke, not today!” Then, more quietly, “I don’t want to deal with this right now.”

“What do you mean, you don’t want to deal with this! Are you afraid you’d lose? Fight me… NOW!”

“Not everything is about you, Sasuke! You damn bastard! You get such… such tunnel vision! You would ignore the start of the Fourth Shinobi War so long as it didn’t interfere with what you want!” Naruto stood up and started walking to the door. “I can’t do this today. I’ve got somewhere I’ve got to be.”

Just before he reached the door, Naruto paused. “You guys…” he glanced over his shoulder “I’m glad to be on Team 7. You guys are going to be strong, you know? Sakura… you’d make an amazing medic-nin, you know? And Sasuke, I know you’ll grow stronger than Itachi.” He reached for the door handle.

“Loser. We’re still going to fight, Naruto!” Sasuke was slightly mollified by Naruto’s belief in him. Slightly.

Naruto stopped, but didn’t turn around. When he responded, it was without his usual exuberance. Wistfully, the words drifted back. “Maybe next time, Sasuke.” The door closed with those parting words, and a shiver went down Sasuke’s spine. Those words… so much like… No. He wasn’t going to think about that.

  
********************************

 

Sasuke stirred in his sleep, something pinging his senses. He wanted to wake up… yet somehow couldn’t. A voice drifted through his mind, as if in a dream.

“Ah, here it is. That’s a complicated seal! Hmmm.”

“Do you think you can remove it?” A voice that strangely sounded like Naruto asked.

The other voice hummed slightly before responding. “I think so. I don’t think I can undo it, but I think I can transfer it to something else.”

Sasuke tried to wake up, but a heavy fog gripped him and he fell into a strange dream. A violent thunderstorm was raging through the forest. Trees were cracking and breaking, lightning was crashing. Suddenly, a clear spot appeared. It slowly spread across the sky, allowing the sun to shine. The air smelled fresh and clear, so clean you could almost taste it.

Sasuke breathed a heavy sigh of relief and rolled over in bed. Just as he began to drift off again, he heard a quiet voice. “Take care of them, Sasuke.”

  
********************************

 

The next morning, Sasuke woke up in a strangely good mood. He felt -- refreshed. Clear-headed. Like a clear autumn day, everything sharp and crisp with a hint of chill to the air, one of the last good days before winter sets in. He had been released from the hospital the day before, but Kakashi was out on a mission so they weren’t going to meet as a team.

  
He needed to do some training, he’d been in the hospital for too long. Maybe he’d look up Naruto, and get a spar in. He paused as he remembered the day before. Naruto had refused to fight him! He still wanted to test himself against the idiot, but he had a hard time remembering why it had mattered so much to him yesterday. They were teammates. He’d fought the idiot numerous times already, and they’d spar again in the future. He needed to get stronger. He needed to be strong enough to defeat that man! And maybe, sparring with Naruto will help get him there.

After breakfast he decided to track his teammate down, but somehow he just kept missing his teammate. Nobody was at the apartment when he knocked. As he walked through the village, he thought he caught a glimpse of orange and yellow from the corner of his eye, but it quickly moved away. Some of the shinobi were acting weird, so he strained his ears to listen as he walked by.

_“..bodies found…close …village.”_

_“…strange…shinobi.”_

_“… four arms!”_

_“…nobody knows…killed them”_

Whatever the villagers were talking about, it sounded strange. Shinobi with four arms? Bodies found near the village? Especially when they were discovered so close to Orochimaru’s attack. Still, nothing he heard indicated it was any of his concern.

When he checked at Ichiraku’s, they said Naruto had just been there. He finally shrugged and decided to go train on his own.

  
********************************

 

A few days later, Sasuke was waiting with Sakura at Team 7’s usual spot. He hadn’t seen Naruto since the hospital, and planned on sparring as soon as his teammate made an appearance.

“Where is that idiot? It’s bad enough that sensei is always late, Naruto better not try doing the same!”

A few minutes later, Naruto walked up. He seemed unusually quiet, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to be there.

“Where were you, you idiot! You’d better not be late again!”

“Sakura-chan! Sensei’s not even here yet! “ For a moment, Naruto seemed more like his normal self.”

“Baka!” Sakura yelled and moved to hit Naruto. And missed.

A look of shock crossed her face. Naruto had dodged! He never tried to dodge! Never! “Wha…what! Get back here, you idiot!” She balled her hand into a fist and took a step forward.

“Sa-Sakura-chan!” Naruto cried as he backed away.

Sasuke initially ignored his teammates and their all too typical antics. But…  
Naruto was dodging Sakura’s hits. He normally never bothered. Why would he do it now? A strange suspicion crept into his mind. “Sakura…” he tried to warn her.

But he was too late. Naruto had turned when Sasuke spoke, giving Sakura her chance. As soon as she landed a hit, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke grew cold.

“A- a shadow clone?” Sakura whispered, shocked. “Where’s the real Naruto? Why would he send a shadow clone to a team meeting?”

“I’ll go check his apartment.” Sasuke said. He hadn’t seen Naruto since the hospital. Since that strange not-a-fight. And he couldn’t shake the growing thought that, in some strange way, Naruto had been saying good-bye.


	2. A Mission? What Mission?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 discovers that Naruto isn't home. What does Tsunade mean, he's on a mission?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks to my beta reader! I've made a few changes to the first chapter,so feel free to check it out. 
> 
> And thank you for the encouraging support, I appreciate the comments. :)

Sasuke refused to let his worry show. He was just going to check on his teammate, nothing unusual about that. Anyone would do. He wasn’t going out of his way, not any more than that time in Wave Country when he just happened to walk by Naruto’s training area. He hadn’t been checking on his teammate when Naruto failed to come back that night. And it was pure coincidence that he was nearby when his teammate had that run-in with the Sand ninjas before the Chunin exams. It happened to be on his way to the training grounds.

There was no reason to worry. The moron probably had overslept or something stupid like that. Nothing to worry about. Sasuke, if nothing else, was good at ignoring any feelings he refused to have.

It was just a door, an ordinary door in an ordinary neighborhood on an ordinary day in Konoha. Sasuke didn’t know why he felt so nervous about knocking. _Uchihas don’t get nervous,_ he reminded himself before firmly knocking on the door. Nobody answered, and when he tried to open it he found it was locked. Not too concerning for ninja – locks are really just there as a courtesy warning. Well, that and to keep out civilians. So long as he kept an eye out for traps he should be able to get in just fine.

Inside was – cleaner than expected. And oddly empty. Sure, the furniture was still there. A calendar on the wall. Dishes in the kitchen.

Somehow, though, it seemed – lifeless. No dirty dishes in the sink. No ramen cups on the table. He didn’t know what Naruto’s apartment normally looked like, but he expected some of his teammate’s chaos would spill over into his living arrangements.

A soft noise drew his attention to the window.

“Maa, Sakura told me Naruto sent a shadow clone,” Kakashi commented.

“Hn.” Sasuke tried pinpointing what made the apartment seem… off. He had never visited Naruto before, so he didn’t know if this cleanliness was typical or not. There weren’t a lot of pictures or posters, but maybe Naruto didn’t like putting things on his walls? Wait a minute.

“I don’t see our team photo.” Team photos were one of the most important things in Konoha. The team relationship is one of the most formative experiences in a shinobi’s life. Growing up together, facing their first life and death situations - some genin teams are closer to each other than they are to their own spouses. Shinobi don’t talk about it much to civilians, of course. Civilians would never understand the strength of such bonds. Sasuke had scoffed at the notion, himself. He didn’t need teammates, didn’t want teammates, and didn’t believe _his_ teammates would ever matter to him in the same way. Still, the team photo represented - something. Even though he acted like he didn’t care, he’d placed his on his dresser where he could see it every day. And Naruto - Naruto had looked so happy when he received his. Sasuke was sure Naruto would have placed it in a prominent spot.

Sasuke only caught the shocked expression on Kakashi’s face because he was looking at the right time.

“Kakashi-sempai,” an ANBU appeared in the window. “Tsunade-sama requests your presence.”

“I’m a little busy right now, can it wait?”

“She said immediately, sempai.” Kakashi sighed and nodded. Normally he’d delay an hour or two, just on principle, but he has a student to find.

 

********************************

Birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and Tsunade took a break from pacing to glare out the window. Everything had seemed fine this morning, right up until a frog appeared in her office. She glared at the letter sitting on her desk. _That brat! That idiotic, moronic, self-sacrificing brat!_ She’d sent an ANBU out for Kakashi and Jiraiya, hopefully they could get a handle on this mess.

“You needed something?” Kakashi called from the window.

“Do you have any idea what your brat has done!” she snarled. “Here, read this!” She grabbed the letter off her desk and shoved it at him.

 

_Baa-chan!_

_You’re going to be upset, and I’m sorry… I had to do it. This super secret organization contacted me. They said there used to be some sort of crazy Ten-Tailed monster, and this Sage dude split it into nine Tailed Beasts. They say that Itachi and his people want to capture me because they’re trying to bring back the Ten-Tails! They had some sort of crazy jutsu thing that let me look at what would happen if I stayed, and I can’t do it._

_They’d have destroyed Konoha! (Okay, maybe they’d also have resurrected everyone. It wouldn’t be THAT bad. But still! All the homes, all the buildings, gone!)_

_They would kill Ero-sennin._

_And Asuma-sensei._

_And a whole bunch of other shinobi._

_I know you’re going to be upset. I wish I could stay! But too many people would get hurt, and I can’t let that happen. I’m headed off to try and change things. Maybe we can take care of everything before there’s a Fourth Shinobi War or something._

_The people I’m with say it’s okay to contact you like this – something about frogs looking like messages from Jiraiya or something. Other than that, though, you’ve got to make it clear I’m no longer with Konoha, baa-chan. Declare me a missing-nin if you have to. I guess that’s what I am now. I know leaving will absolutely destroy my chances at being Hokage, but some things are more important than that._

 

_Naruto_

 

_P.S. Super-secret-shinobi-san took that crazy seal off Sasuke. Said it was some sort of ‘goodwill gesture’ or something._

 

_P.P.S Can you ask Kakashi to take care of Mr. Ukki?_

 

_P.P.P.S Sakura-chan would make an awesome medic! You should totally train her._

 

_P.P.P.P.S Don’t let Ero-sennin go to Amekagure!_

 

Kakashi felt a headache forming. “Does Jiraiya know?”

“I sent an ANBU out to get him. Once he’s here, I’m putting up privacy seals and locking everything down until we come up with a plan. God, I want some sake!”

 

********************************

“Sasuke-kun,” Sakura called out, “where are you going?”

“The Hokage tower. Kakashi is there; Tsunade called him to the office.”

“Do you think…” Sakura gulped before bravely continuing, “is it about…Naruto?”

“Hn.” Maybe Kakashi would have some answers. Naruto’s pack was missing. The team photo gone. It hurt to think about it, so he did what he did best and pushed it aside. _Stupid Naruto._ Distracting him from his true purpose. _You get such… such tunnel vision!_ Tunnel vision. Okay, so he was very focused on killing Itachi. He needed to be. That man had murdered his entire family! He couldn’t afford to be distracted like this. Nothing else mattered. Right?

Sasuke tried suppressing the cold feeling in his gut, but when they refused to let him into the Hokage’s office, he waited. Eventually his sensei would come out. And then…

Some time later, the door finally opened. Kakashi came out, a tired look on his face.

“Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura called. “What’s going on.”

“Maa, maa, Sakura-chan. Just working out a few details.”

“Cut the crap, Sensei. Where’s Naruto,” Sasuke interjected.

“He’s on a mission.”

“A mission!?!” Sakura exclaimed. “Why would that baka go on a mission without us?”

“It’s a mission only he can do, Sakura-chan. Take a week off, I’ll let you know when we can meet again. You’ll meet your new teammate soon.”

“New teammate?” Sakura and Sasuke said, shocked.

“Why do we need a new teammate? Naruto will be back soon, won’t he?” Sakura continued.

“It’s more of a… long term mission. Naruto will be gone for a while. No worries, we’ll be back to missions soon.”

“What sort of long term mission requires _Naruto_ , of all people?”

“I can’t tell you about that. Just work by yourselves a bit, I’ll let you know when we will meet again.”

Sasuke felt that cold feeling in his gut again. _A long term mission?_ He supposed it was possible. No, wait. Who takes a copy of their team picture on a mission? And why did Naruto send a shadow clone to the team meeting? There were way too many holes in the story. What the hell? Where was Naruto?

Kakashi knew he should ask Sasuke about Orochimaru’s seal, but he couldn’t take any more questions. He left as though his ninken were chasing him.

“Sasuke-kun…” Sakura was interrupted before she could complete her sentence.

“Sakura!” Tsunade’s voice called out from the office. “Get in here!”

Sasuke was left standing in the hall by himself. He didn’t know what Tsunade wanted with Sakura, but he couldn’t stay. Underneath his stoic façade his emotions were whirling. He needed to go out and hit _something._

 

********************************

Sakura didn’t know what to think any more. Naruto was gone. Sure, Kakashi said he was on some sort of long term mission, but if that was the case why had Naruto sent a shadow clone this morning? And Kakashi had seemed surprised by his absence. Shouldn’t he have known one of his genin would be away? She had always thought of Naruto as an annoyance, but between Wave and the Chunin exams she’d become somewhat fond of him. Not that she’d ever let him know, of course. He was like the bratty little brother she never had. And now he was gone, Team 7 broken. She had no idea who their new team member would be, but it just wouldn’t be the same.

And now Tsunade was offering to take her on as an apprentice. The offer came from left field. She remembered Naruto’s odd remarks at the hospital, how he thought she could be a good medic-nin. She’d been thinking about it ever since, wondering if she should do it. She had the chakra control for it, and she’d always done well at studying. Anatomy, biology and chemistry shouldn’t be too hard. But she hadn’t gotten around to finding a teacher yet. And now a Sannin, and Hokage, was offering?

By the time she left the Hokage tower, Sasuke was long gone and her head was a whirl of confusion. She had a week before her team was going to meet again—well, Sasuke, Kakashi, and whoever the new team member was going to be.

She decided to go buy a flower and visit Lee. Maybe seeing Ino would help as well.

Ino’s voice called out a cheery greeting as Sakura entered the Yamanaka flower shop. “I’ll be right with - Billboard-Brow! Aren’t you supposed to have training today?”

For a second, Sakura didn’t know what to say.

“Sakura? What’s wrong?”

Sakura crumbled. “I – I don’t really know! Kakashi-sensei said it was a mission, so it’s probably nothing…but it doesn’t feel right. And – and we’re getting a new team member. And Naruto’s gone!” she babbled, the words spewing out like water from a bursting dam.

“Hey, hey. None of that. What do you mean, gone?”

“His apartment is cleared out! Kakashi says he’s on some sort of long-term mission. We’re getting a new team mate.” Sakura grew sad at the thought. “I know I always said Naruto was annoying, but I can’t imagine Team 7 without him.”

   “Something’s weird about this.” Ino said. “Naruto’s not even a chunin, why would he get assigned to a long-term mission without the rest of Team 7?”

“I know. But I don’t know what to do.”

“Hmmm. Maybe Shikamaru can help.”

“Shikamaru?” Sakura was confused. _What could Shikamaru possibly do?_

“You know our team is more focused on intel, right? Shikamaru’s smart, maybe he can figure out what’s going on.”

“O-okay.” Sakura hesitantly replied.

 

********************************

“So Naruto’s on a long term mission?” Shikamaru asked.

“That’s what Kakashi says,” Sakura confirmed. “But it doesn’t make any sense! Plus, if it was a legitimate mission, then Kakashi shouldn’t have been surprised when I told him about Naruto’s shadow clone.”

“Odd.” Shikamaru had a thoughtful look on his face. “Okay. I’m a chunin now. It may not be enough, especially if the mission is classified, it’ll be troublesome but I’ll see what I can find out. And…”

“What?” Sakura felt a small seed of hope blossom.

“We’ll treat this like an intel operation. We need a place to meet, though. Somewhere private, where nobody else can listen in.”

“You think it’s that sensitive?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? It’s definitely… troublesome. What about Sasuke’s place? The rest of us are still living with our parents, if we slap some privacy seals on we can talk there without anyone else listening in.”

“Thank you, Shikamaru! I’ll tell Sasuke-kun right away.”

 

********************************

Sasuke didn’t know how he got roped into this. He didn’t like people, and he _never_ let them into his home. Not normally, at least. But this whole situation with Naruto was distracting him, and he couldn’t bring himself to turn Team 10 and Sakura away. He could understand why Shikamaru was there, at least Shikamaru was smart. And Ino kind of made sense, since she was Sakura’s friend. He didn’t really see the point in having Choji there, but Team 10 was sort of a package deal. He refused to act like a proper host, though. If they wanted food they were on their own.

“What are you doing?” he asked, as Shikamaru pulled out a couple of scrolls.

“Setting up. Let me put some privacy seals up first.” After Shikamaru finished with the privacy seals, he opened a storage scroll and pulled out a big bulletin board.

“What is that.” Sasuke growled.

“A board,” Shikamaru said with a bored tone. He started to pull out some more papers. “I decided to treat this like an intelligence collection mission. Whatever is going on, whatever this mission is, it’s something only Naruto can do, right? So we’re going to capture everything we know about him. See if we can make sense of this.”

He placed a copy of Naruto’s ninja registration on the board.

Sakura gave a choked gasp. “That – that picture! What was he thinking!” They stared at the registration photo. Naruto was covered in red and white body paint and making a strange face.

Choji laughed “That’s Naruto for you.”

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru muttered as he finished setting the board up.

“Okay, gather around and listen up.

“First, a warning. We've been told that Naruto is on a mission. That's the official story. You all are here because something seems fishy. If we pursue this, we may find information we're not supposed to know. Honestly, it would probably be best to drop this now.”

“Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.” Sakura was scared and defiant as she broke the awkward silence.

 Shikamaru looked around the room. Ino, Choji, and Sasuke met his gaze with determined looks. He nodded and moved on.

“We’re starting with a biographic report. Naruto’s biography, work history, accomplishments, idiosyncrasies and habits. His jutsus, attitudes, and habits. Everything we know about him. I’ve got the basic information from his registration form, we’ll add everything we know here. Let’s start with his biography. Do you guys know his birthdate?”

“Uh…” Sakura wracked her brains for any mention of Naruto’s birthday.

“You don’t know his birthday!” Ino asked in shock.

“It never came up!” Sakura grew defensive.

“Okay…what about his family?”

“He’s an orphan!”

“Sure, but somebody had to take care of him when he was a baby. No one is able to take care of themselves when they’re that young. Besides, even if there’s an orphan there’s got to be something there. Who his parents were, or how they found him, or _something_ ”

“Uh…”

   “Okay, okay” Shikamaru continued. “Let’s skip his biography for now. What about his idiosyncrasies and habits?”

“Well, he likes ramen. And wants to be Hokage.”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, but added that to the board. “Okay, what about jutsus.”

“Shadow clones, of course.”

“And he used some sort of frog summons in his fight against Gaara.”

Shikamaru wrote ‘shadow clones’ and ‘frog summons’ under the jutsu section of the board. His frown got deeper. “Who taught him that?”

“Ummm.”

“Right. Okay then. What about friends? Acquaintances?”

Sakura looked uncomfortable. “He brought back Tsunade-sama, right? And Jiraiya-sama was the one who took him on that mission.”

Shikamaru added Tsunade and Jiraiya to the board.

“Kind of weird that the Sannin are taking such interest in him, isn’t it?”

Just to fill out the list, he also added ‘Konoha Ninja Academy’ and ‘Team 7 under jounin sensei Hatake Kakashi’.

“You know, “ Ino thoughtfully added “Hinata should probably be here. She might know some of this.”

“Hinata!?!”

“She’s got a serious crush on Naruto, didn’t you notice?”

Sasuke frowned. _Hinata had a crush? On Naruto?_ He hadn't known. It shouldn't matter; it had nothing to do with killing Itachi. Knowing that guy, Naruto probably had never noticed either.

For some reason, that thought made him feel better.

“Too bad they’re out on a mission right now” Choji added.

Shikamaru frowned in thought. “Actually, all the tracking teams are out on a mission right now.”

The room was silent for a moment.

“You know, he talks about ramen and being Hokage so much… but there’s a lot I don’t really know about him. Strange. He’s so… transparent! How can someone so obvious have so much we don’t know about him?”

Shikamaru sighed and added another column to the board titled ‘Mysteries’. Under it he wrote ‘who taught Naruto the shadow clone jutsu? Who taught Naruto the frog summons?’

“There’s something else,” Sasuke finally spoke up. “When we were fighting Orochimaru in the forest, Naruto got all weird.”

“Weird.” Shikamaru said with a flat voice.

“Yeah,” Sakura jumped up in excitement. “He somehow stopped a giant snake summons!”

“Hn.” Sasuke then added “and his eyes- his eyes were red.”

“Red eyes,” Shikamaru muttered as he added it to the ‘mystery’ section. “Anything else?”

The members of Team 7 looked at each other. Sakura hesitantly continued, “adults don’t seem to like him for some reason. But that could just be the pranks, I think.”

“Pranks, right. Who could forget that?” Shikamaru added ‘pranks’ to the growing biography.

When the information was laid out like this, it didn’t seem like much and there were many gaps in their knowledge.

“All right.” Shikamaru turned around and looked at them. “It may not look like much to start with, but now we have a place to start, and we can work on figuring the rest of this out. You guys aren’t doing anything for a week, right? I think you should work on getting some answers.”

“How?”

“Someone had to take care of him when he was younger, right? Since Naruto never mentioned a caretaker, that means he was probably in an orphanage or something. Why don’t you check and see if there are any records there? And there ought to be a public birth certificate or something, so check public records.”

Sakura nodded with determination.

“As for the rest of this,” Shikamaru continued, “we all can try asking around. Ask our parents, our teachers. Check the library for anything that could explain his eyes turning red. And maybe something about frog summons and shadow clones. Try to figure out who would have taught Naruto. See what you can figure out, and we’ll meet again in another week.”

Sasuke’s protest died before it reached his lips. He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know how Naruto could ~~just leave him~~ be such a mystery. But he _would_ get his answers.


	3. Who is Kushina?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More people get involved in the ongoing investigation, and Team 7 meets their new member.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In honor of Naruto's birthday, I'm going to post two chapters today. :)

Sasuke stared at the waiting genin. It had been a week, and despite his discomfort he couldn’t bring himself to cancel the follow-up meeting to discuss his missing teammate. He would never have gotten the other Rookies involved with this, but he had to admit that Shikamaru, at least, had been useful. His board helped give them a direction to search in. He wasn’t used to relying on others, though, and it made him uncomfortable.

He begrudgingly accepted Team 10’s assistance, but that didn’t explain why Neji and TenTen were standing at his door. 

“What are  _ you _ doing here?”

Sakura bounced over to the door “You made it! Sasuke-kun, I ran into TenTen while I was visiting Lee and told them about Naruto. One thing led to another, and, well, they wanted to come.”

Sasuke stifled a sigh. It was bad enough that Choji brought food. He had known that once dinner was included that he’d never be able to get rid of them, and now there were more. He held the door for a second too long.

Neji straightened and gave him a small bow. “I apologize, Sasuke-san. I feel I owe Naruto a debt of honor.”

“We owe Naruto.” TenTen added. “Once Lee gets out of recovery, he would also like to join.”

Sasuke gave a small nod and opened the door.

Once everyone had fixed their plates and Team Gai was briefed on the previous week’s work, Shikamaru unsealed the board and stood in front of it. “Since Team 7 did the bulk of the work, I’d like them to start.”

Sasuke grunted as Sakura stood to brief. “We found out that Naruto had been placed in the orphanage, until they kicked him out. At the age of  _ five _ !” Her face tightened with anger.

She was only giving the highlight of their rather disturbing visit. The matron of the orphanage had been saved from violence only by the timely arrival of an assistant with the documents they wanted. Initially, she had come across as friendly and caring. That changed as soon as she discovered who they were asking about. The real trouble started when she tried convincing them that ‘certain children are just born bad.’ 

Sure, Naruto was annoying. Loud. Obnoxious. A prankster. But ‘born bad’? And they put her in charge of children?!?

Still, they had learned  _ something _ . “Naruto had been brought to the orphanage by the Sandaime,” Sakura continued. And hadn’t that been a shock. Maybe there was a reason Naruto always called the old Hokage ‘Jiji’.

“The Sandaime?”

Sakura nodded. “Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else in his records. The Sandaime probably knew more but, well…” Her voice trailed off as they all realized what that meant. Hard to get answers from someone who was dead, even if they could have gotten  _ the Hokage _ to talk.

“Public records was a bust, too. No birth certificate. Though we found something else that might be connected.” Sakura paused for a second. “A death certificate, for another Uzumaki. Kushina Uzumaki, who died the day of the Kyuubi attack. We don’t know how she’s related to Naruto, if she’s related at all.”

Shikamaru frowned. “How old was she?”

“We don’t know. Yet. We want to check some of the other records to see if we can find out more.”

Shikamaru added Kushina to the board, with a note saying ‘relative’ and a question mark.

“I tried looking up the eye thing, but,” Sakura bit her lip. “Most of what we found were dojutsus like the Sharingan, and we know Naruto doesn’t have one of those.”

“As for the frog summons, well, Jiraiya  _ is _ the Toad Sage. And we know he has some sort of connection to Naruto. Maybe Jiraiya taught him? The only other toad summoner I could find was the Fourth Hokage.”

Shikamaru nodded and put a note next to ‘frog summons’.

“That’s about it for our side of things. We’re meeting our new team member tomorrow, and I’ve started learning to be a medic so I’m not sure how much time we’ll have for further research.”

Shikamaru waved that off. “We can all contribute where and when we can. Did anyone else find something?”

Choji shook his head. “I didn’t know how to ask my dad without sounding suspicious, so I just asked if he knew any other Uzumakis. He got kind of weird, though he did mention something about another village. Uzushio? Said there was an Uzumaki clan there, but the village was destroyed in the second war.”

“I asked my father about shadow clones,” Ino frowned. He said it was a B-rank jutsu, a jonin level technique. Then he told me not to try it, said it took a lot of chakra.”

“But Naruto makes those all the time!” Sakura got a puzzled look on her face. “How much chakra does he have?”

Shikamaru sighed and added ‘unbelieve amount of chakra’ to the mystery list.

Neji raised a hand. “Speaking of mysteries, during the chunin exams I closed his tenketsu points. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed anyone could use their chakra afterwards.”

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru said to himself as he added yet another. He turned around to face the room. “Anything else?”

“I almost forgot” Ino grimaced. “Before the chunin exams, my father warned me not to try using the Yamanaka jutsus on Naruto.”

The room grew quiet as everyone pondered that, and ever-growing list of mysteries.

Shikamaru moved his hands into his ‘thinking’ position and considered everything they had learned. Finally, he nodded to himself.

“All right. I don’t want to risk getting caught sneaking into the classified sections yet. I think there’s still a lot we can learn before we even consider that. Learning about Kushina Uzumaki might be our best option, for now. Sakura, you can take the lead… but everyone here should try asking around. I also want to grab Team 8 whenever they get back. Hinata, in particular, might be able to help.”

 

********************************

Sakura tried to hide her nervousness as she headed to Team 7’s meeting spot. They would meet their new team member today, and she wondered what he would be like. Whoever it was, she knew it just wouldn’t be the same without Naruto.

She was the first one to arrive, but she didn’t have to wait long before Sasuke appeared. “Sasuke-kun, what do you think our new teammate will be like?”

Sasuke gave a small grunt. “Who cares, as long as they don’t get in my way.” Sakura’s face fell at his response.

A young man dropped down from a nearby tree. “Hi,” he said, a small smile on his face. Something about his smile seemed wrong.

“A-are you our new teammate” Sakura asked.

“Yes. My name is Sai.” Sai was like an anti-Naruto. Dark hair instead of bright blonde, dull black eyes instead of a brilliant blue, pale white skin instead of tan, and a small fake smile instead of a wide grin. Sasuke hated him on sight.

“I haven’t seen you around before,” Sakura hesitantly commented. “Did you go to the Ninja Academy?”

“I went through some – alternative training.”

Sakura tried to cover her uncertainty with a smile. “Well, welcome to Team 7. I hope we get along.”

“I like nice…ugly women like you.” Sai gave another one of his creepy smiles.

Shock quickly turned to anger. “What did you say!?!”

“Maa, that’s no way to treat our teammates.” Kakashi said, startling Sakura and Sasuke with his sudden appearance. “I see you’ve met Sai.” Something flickered in Kakashi’s eye as he said that, gone before Sasuke could identify it.

“Well, we need to get sense for each other’s skill sets before we take any serious missions. I figured we’d do a little sparring and take a few D ranks this week. If all goes well, we may be ready for a C rank by the end of the week. Sasuke, Sai, you two spar first. Use everything you have – taijutsu, ninjutsu, kenjetsu.”

Sasuke eyed his new teammate as he readied his kunai. Sai pulled out the tanto sword from the harness on his back.  _ Kenjetsu, huh. _ The tanto would give Sai a longer reach than his kunai, that meant he needed to keep his distance.

“Begin,” Kakashi commanded.

Sasuke threw a brace of kunai as a distraction, then quickly jumped up a tree for height. “Fire Release! Great Fireball Technique,” he breathed a plume of fire towards his target.

Sai used his tanto to block the kunai and quickly disappeared, leaving a log behind.  _ Body Substitution. This guy is good. _ Sasuke eyed the forest, trying to find his opponent. Before he could go any further, an inky black snake curled around his body, trapping him.

“Super Beast Imitating Drawing,” Sai said as he stepped into the clearing. He was holding an open scroll and an ink brush. Sasuke glared.

Sakura’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped in shock.  _ Sasuke-kun was defeated! And so quickly, too! _

“Well done,” Kakashi walked up to Sai. “Though don’t expect to win so easily now that we know about your technique. You can make your drawings come to life?”

Sai nodded.

“Sakura, Sasuke, come here.” Kakashi called. Sai released the inky snake and team 7 met in the middle. “This is why I had you spar today. Sai’s technique will be very useful, but he will need the time and space to draw. Naruto was good at distracting and drawing out our opponents, giving cooler heads a chance to assess the situation and come up with a plan.”  _ It also helped that he had ridiculous healing powers and was a chakra tank, so Naruto was likely to survive the first hit. Add in his talent for being obnoxious, and he was perfect for forcing the enemy to reveal their abilities. _ “He also focused on close-range attacks. That won’t be Sai’s role in this team, so we’ll all have to adjust accordingly. We’ll do a little more sparring, get a sense of where he falls with taijutsu and kenjutsu, and then we’ll practice some new formations.”

 

********************************

 

It was long past the time their team was done training for the day, but Sasuke wasn't done. His fists were bruised and bloody as he wailed away at the training post. He had always been driven, always trained hard, but lately he was pushing himself even further. Thoughts whirled through his head, bringing unwanted feelings in their wake. 

Where was Naruto? Why was he so bothered by that idiot's absence?  Why was he alone again? What had Naruto meant when he said that Sasuke had tunnel vision? What had made Naruto act so weird, that day in the hospital? And why hadn't he known about whatever it was? (Tunnel vision? He never cared to hear about his  friend’s teammate’s troubles, was that a bad thing?) 

He wouldn't really ignore the breaking out of another war, if it ever happened. Would he? 

He resented these thoughts. These…  _ feelings _ . Resented anything that took his focus away from his life goal. He didn't know how to deal with them, so he did what he'd done since the day he lost every single person he cared about. 

He trained. 

His new teammate showed him just how much farther he needed to go. The speed with which Sai had defeated him was just - embarrassing. Kakashi was right, part of that was because he didn't know what Sai was capable of. Now that he knew about Sai’s ink techniques their spars were lasting a little longer. While Sasuke didn't like Sai, the truth was he didn't really like anyone. And he would - begrudgingly - work with whoever he had to in order to get stronger. At least his new teammate was strong, it meant he had a metric to measure himself against. 

And Sai was  _ quiet _ . It was - peaceful. He didn't miss the chatter. Didn't resent the silence. 

He didn't. 

_ Thud _ . 

He didn't. 

_ Thud.  _

 

He didn't. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's Sai. I figured Sai had all that Root training and this is pre-Orochimaru Sasuke, so I made their first spar a little one-sided. It didn't help that Sasuke had no idea what Sai was capable of at the time.


	4. The Gang's All Here - Mostly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke hates hosting, and Team 7 misses their chatterbox.

Once might be a fluke, twice could be coincidence, but three times? Three times was a pattern.

Sasuke was hosting yet another meeting for his fellow rookies, though he still was confused at how, exactly, it had come to this. What had started out as just Team 10 and Sakura had since expanded to Team Gui, and would shortly include Team 8. He gritted his teeth as Team 10 took over his kitchen – Choji had brought food for the second time in a row.

There was a knock on his door, and soon he was ushering Kiba, Shino and Hinata into his living room. “Hey guys!” Kiba waved. “It’s good to be back! That was a looooooooooong mission.”

“What were you guys doing anyway?” Shikamaru asked. “It seems almost every tracking team in the village was involved.”

“Yeah,” Kiba frowned. “It was weird, actually. They gave us some patrol routes and told us to report if we saw anything strange, but they didn’t really tell us what we were looking for.”

Hinata nodded and quietly added, “most of the Hyuuga were out on patrol.”

“The Inuzuka, too. They don’t normally call the whole clan in, not for a patrol at least.”

“We appeared to be searching for something, or someone.” Shino commented. “Why? Because our patrol routes formed a search pattern centered around Konoha.”

Shikamaru grew pensive, before shaking his head and muttering his catchphrase. “Troublesome.”

After the rest of the rookies arrived and everyone had eaten, they gathered in the living room where Shikamaru had set up the rather familiar board.

“Yosh!” Lee exuberantly exclaimed. “With all the rookies working together, we will find out what happened to Naruto-kun in no time!”

Shikamaru gave a tired sigh as he stepped up to the board. “Right. Let’s get started. Since we’re trying not to be obvious, and most of us put our parents on guard when we asked about Naruto, it doesn’t sound like we made any progress on finding out who Kushina Uzumaki is.”

A few of the rookies sheepishly nodded.

“If anyone has anything new to add, now’s the time to speak up.”

“Hinata, do you see anything we missed?” Ino got a teasing grin on her face. “You are Naruto’s number one fan, after all.”

“Ummm,” Hinata blushed and poked her fingers together. “Na-Naruto-kun’s birthday is October 10 th ” she quietly said. “He always met with the Sandaime at Ichiraku’s for his birthday.” She blushed even harder.

Sasuke gave her an unreadable look.

“October 10 th ?” Kiba exclaimed. “He was born the day of the Kyuubi attack?”

“The same day this Kushina Uzumaki died?” Sakura asked.

“There could be a connection.” Shino stated. “Why? That seems like a strange coincidence.”

“I’m not sure how to find out about her without making anyone suspicious.” Shikamaru frowned in thought. “It’s not a name that we could casually bring up, and that’s assuming anyone we asked would know about her in the first place.”

“We could check and see if she has a ninja record,” Sakura paused for thought. “Assuming she was a ninja in the first place.”

“That would require breaking into the ninja records department,” Shikamaru commented. “Birth certificates and death certificates are public records, they have to be. But ninja files? Anything other than the ninja registration form is typically classified.”

“Are registration forms of deceased ninja still kept on file?”

“Maybe? I imagine they get archived, but we’d have to visit the records office in order to check. Still, that might work -  _ if _ she was a ninja.”

“I might be able to check,” Sakura hesitantly offered. “But Tsunade-sama’s been keeping me busy with training, and our team is almost ready for a C-rank.”

“I can check,” Hinata softly volunteered. “We should have a few days down time after the mission we just completed.”

 

********************************

 

The new Team 7 was still a little rough around the edges, but they had finally performed well enough that Kakashi put in for a C-rank mission – a courier mission to the Land of Tea.

Once they left the village, they had fallen into a routine of sorts. Everyone worked silently to set up camp, take their turn on guard duty, and break everything down in the morning. Sakura had tried to strike up a conversation once or twice, but each attempt failed when her teammates barely responded.

They had been traveling for three days, and finally stopped for the night. Sasuke immediately went to find some firewood while Sai filled their canteens and Sakura prepared dinner. They had settled down to stare at the fire, each engrossed in their own thoughts.

A heavy silence filled the air. Sakura felt it smothering her, drowning her. “I can’t take it any more!” She stood up, her face contorted in anger. “This silence is— It’s killing me! How can you stand it? It’s so quiet! Too quiet!” 

“What should we talk about?” Sai asked.

“I don’t know! Anything! The weather, what you’re going to do when we get back from our mission. Where we’re going to go eat… “ Her voice trailed off, a look of devastation crossing her face. “We should talk about… about… “

“Ramen...” the word slipped out before Sasuke could stop it.

“Ramen.” Sakura said in a broken voice. Then she burst into tears, and whirled away.

Kakashi sighed and stood up. “You boys stay here.” He commanded, and followed Sakura.

“I don’t understand.” Sai was confused. “Why did ramen make her cry?”

Sasuke glared at the fire.

“Sasuke? Why would ramen make her cry?”

Sasuke grunted, but Sai didn’t take the hint. “What’s wrong with ramen?”

“Naruto loved ramen.” He snapped, but could tell by Sai’s look of bewilderment that it wasn’t enough. “He could talk about ramen for hours.” He hoped that his curt tone would stop the questions.

“Thinking about ramen reminds her of Naruto and makes her cry?” Sasuke grunted again. “And makes you upset?”

If looks could kill, Sai would be dead a thousand times by now. How could Sai be so… so… argh! He shouldn’t be asking Sasuke these sorts of things. He should ask Sakura, or Kakashi. Anyone other than him.

The two boys fell quiet, the silence only broken when a tired Kakashi returned.

“Sakura will be back in a moment. I think we need a new team rule, boys. Every evening I expect you to participate in at least ten minutes worth of conversation.”

Sasuke looked at his sensei in shock, while Sai only looked puzzled. Neither verbally responded, and Kakashi sighed.

“See, this is what I’m talking about. You will each participate in at least ten minutes of conversation, at least once a day. You must respond verbally, with more than a grunt or a one-word sentence. Think of it as training for guarding a high ranking daimyo. Dinner conversation is sometimes part of the job. I don’t care what the topic is about, I don’t care whether you argue or agree… but you will talk. Or I will sign us up for the very worst D-rank missions until the lesson sinks in.”

 

*******************************

 

Sakura washed her face in a stream of water, rinsing off the tears. She had initially thought of Naruto as annoying, though she’d grown fond of him during the mission to Wave and the Chunin exams. He was still too loud, too foolish, but it was only now that he was gone that she realized how much he’d held the team together. Her awkward attempts at starting a conversation had always fallen flat. Sai and Sasuke both seemed perfectly comfortable spending an entire day without saying a word. Their unwillingness to speak had felt like something solid – the silence given weight. She found herself wondering if this was what Sasuke was like at home.

She’d lost a bit of her fangirl tendencies after everything they had gone through together, but she still had held on to her dream of being his wife. Now, though, she found herself wondering if being his wife would be such a good thing. In her dreams, he would value and treasure her. Tell her how beautiful she was, how much he appreciated everything she did for him. She imagined she’d break through his cold exterior, that she'd be the one he'd open up to. He would tell her all his troubles, and she'd be the one to comfort and heal him. 

Now, though, she was beginning to see how unrealistic that was. Granted, she’d been around him enough that she could understand a lot from his body language. A raised eyebrow, a glare, a smirk. Still, she had to admit he would never be the type to give her warm compliments. With Naruto present, that was fine. Somehow it never bothered her, not when Naruto was chattering her ear off about ramen, and being Hokage, and whatever else crossed his mind. 

Now, though… Now, without Naruto as a buffer, she had to admit it made her miserable. She thought about her father - annoying and silly as he sometimes was, she loved him. He was always there to ask how her day went, or give her a hug if she needed it. Dad was just… There. Always. 

She couldn't picture Sasuke doing those sorts of things. 

Kakashi had promised that he’d make it better. Once she finished washing her face she’d be ready to go back and face her team.

 

********************************

 

Three days later, and it was Sai’s turn to pick a dinner conversation. The first few days had been a little rough, but Sai and Sasuke had both participated to some extent. After they had set up camp and settled down by the fire, Sai cleared his throat. 

“I don’t know what to talk about.”

Sakura raised her eyebrows. “It doesn’t matter, pick something you care about.”

“I don’t care about anything. I have no emotions.”

“Well, what about your artwork? You paint, right? What do you think when you paint?”

“I don’t think of anything.”

“Nothing?”

“A good shinobi has no emotions.”

Sakura’s face grew dark. “Bullshit.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been working at the hospital for a little while now. Did you know there are cases of brain injury that damage a shinobi’s emotional responses? You’d think they’d be perfect ninjas – able to think logically, no emotion. Except that without emotion, they literally  _ can not decide _ . With no emotional reason to pick a blue shirt over a red shirt they wind up paralyzed by indecision. We need our emotions. We can’t make decisions without them.” 

Kakashi shifted. “Sakura’s right. Shinobi try not to show emotions, and when our emotions are out of control we can get killed. However… “ Kakashi focused on Sai, “Our emotions help us know when to follow orders and when we shouldn’t.”

“You would disobey an order?” Sai couldn’t seem to grasp the notion of anyone doing so. 

“Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon a comrade are worse than trash. Shinobi don’t risk their lives for some abstract principle. Sure, we say we have the Will of Fire, and we do. The phrase represents our care for real, live people. Shinobi teams are powerful because they care for one another, and they will go to the greatest lengths to take care of their fellow teammates.”

Sai frowned in thought.

“Sasuke, don’t forget that you need to contribute something, too.” Kakashi gently reminded the Uchiha.

Sasuke’s thoughts whirled. If Naruto wasn’t on a real mission, did that mean he’d abandoned his comrades? Didn’t that make him trash? He couldn’t imagine that guy ever abandoning Konoha, but he also couldn’t believe Naruto was truly on an official mission. If he’d left… If he’d left Team 7… What did that mean?

He didn’t really want to speak the thoughts in his head, but he didn’t want to do a month’s worth of D-ranks either. And as for abandoning comrades – hadn’t he been considering it, himself? He didn’t know how much of that was his own thinking, though, and how much of it was Orochimaru’s seal. 

He hadn’t realized how much the seal had affected his thinking until it was gone, and his mind seemed – clearer. Sure, he still wanted to avenge his clan. Wanted to grow stronger, and kill that man. Under the influence of the cursed seal, though, everything had seemed twisted. Darker. He saw the negative in everything, and seemed unable to see any good. Anyone else’s strength was a threat, and it felt like he couldn’t trust anyone. He remembered that day at the hospital, and how desperately he’d wanted to fight Naruto. The anger that had been driving him. His shock when Naruto refused. Looking back, he could tell that Naruto was preoccupied with something, but he didn’t know what. Maybe he should have, but then he and Naruto had never had that sort of - friendship. This mission Naruto was on, if it  _ was _ a mission – well, it wasn’t exactly unusual for Naruto to leave without saying anything. He’d done that when he’d left with the Toad Sage, and Sasuke hadn’t known he was gone until the man at the ramen stand told him. Still, there’s a difference between going on a mission for a month or so versus a mission that would take  _ years _ . Surely, if Naruto knew he’d be gone that long, he’d have told his team.

Sasuke shook the thoughts away. He was getting off topic, and those questions weren’t relevant. This whole conversation started because Sai thought shinobi shouldn’t have emotions. Which, technically, is what the rules say. Or rather, shinobi shouldn’t  _ show  _ emotion. That’s different, right?

“Shinobi aren’t supposed to show emotion, that doesn’t mean they don’t have them.” He finally said. “You can’t let emotions get in the way of doing your job, which is why we have the rules. It’s unrealistic, though, to expect shinobi not to have feelings. As for following orders… “ he frowned in thought. “When we were on that mission in Wave, Kakashi ordered us to leave. But I knew that our best chance of surviving was to rescue Kakashi. Otherwise, Zabuza could take him out and come after us. So we ignored his order, and stayed. It worked out.”

Kakashi sighed. “Yes, it did work out. Which is why you didn’t get in trouble for disobeying. Which brings up a good point - sometimes you can get away with disobeying an order. If the end result justifies your actions, or you have a good reason for doing so. It’s a risk, though. One that you are choosing to take upon yourself. When you follow an order, responsibility lies with the person who gave you that order. When you choose to disregard orders and use your own judgement, then you take on the burden of responsibility. Sometimes situations change, or new information appears, and your orders may become obsolete or even counterproductive. When you’re out on a mission, you don’t always have the chance to notify someone that a situation has changed, or request clarification. You have to make a judgment call, based off what you know at the time. Being a jonin isn’t just about fighting. It’s also about developing your ability to make such decisions.”

Kakashi noted the pensive expressions on his team’s faces and decided to leave them to their thoughts. 


	5. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, they get some answers. Well, some of the Konoha 12 at least.

Sakura smiled happily as Konoha’s familiar gates came into view. The courier mission had gone well, and they were almost home. Her smile turned bittersweet as she remembered how enthusiastic Naruto had been whenever they returned.

“Hey, why don’t we get some ramen after we report in?” 

“You want- ramen?” Sai gave her a confused look. “I thought ramen made you cry.”

Sakura gave a half-hearted laugh. “It reminds me of Naruto, and that makes me sad. But… “ Over the course of this mission she’d gotten to know Sai better, and she’d realized that he was more clueless than deliberately annoying. He really didn’t understand social cues, at all. There was almost an innocence to his confusion, something that took the sting out of questions that were probably more personal than he intended. So she found herself explaining things to him that she’d always thought people just  _ knew _ . 

“Sometimes being sad is a good thing. I wouldn’t be sad if I hadn’t had good memories to miss in the first place, so being sad is also a reminder of those good times.”

Sakura’s nostalgia grew as they slipped into the seats at Ichiraku’s. She smiled at Teuchi, the friendly owner and ramen chef.

“Ah, Team 7!” he greeted them enthusiastically. “But- where’s Naruto? I haven’t seen him in ages! He’s my best customer, you know?”

“He’s away on a long term mission, he won’t be back for a while.” 

“That’s too bad. I hope the mission goes well and that he comes back soon. Nobody eats ramen like an Uzumaki!”

As he took their orders, Sakura pondered that statement. Maybe… ? It was a worth a try. 

“Did you know a Kushina Uzumaki?”

Teuchi gave a fond smile as he served their food. “Ah, Kushina! She was another one of my best customers. They called her the Red Hot Habanero, you know? She was very bright and energetic, and loved to eat here. She used to drag her boyfriend here all the time.”

Sakura perked up. Finally, they were getting somewhere! “Her boyfriend?”

Teuchi nodded. “Yep. She and Minato would sit right there. They sometimes even brought his genin team.”

Sakura’s spoon stopped moving and her eyes grew wide.  _ Minato? Did he mean… ? _

“I just remembered something! Sorry guys, I’ve got to go!” she quickly paid for her food and left. If this meant what she thought it did…

 

********************************

 

After spending a little bit of time in the library, Sakura called her fellow rookies in for a hasty meeting. Unfortunately, Team Gui was unavailable - out on a mission - but everyone else was able to make it. Sakura was so excited she could barely contain herself. Finally! They had found  _ something _ . And what a something it was!

“Oi, Sakura. What’s going on?” Shikamaru was slouched in one of the chairs. He’d set up their information board as usual, but made it clear that this time it was Sakura’s show.

“First, Hinata… Were you able to find anything about Kushina?”

“Yes.” Hinata softly replied. “S-she was a ninja, I found her ninja registration card.” She handed a piece of paper over to Sakura, who paused a moment to study it.  _ Yes. Yes! The coloring is different, but that face… The shape of her eyes… _

“We went to Ichiraku’s for ramen today, and the owner actually knew who Kushina was. He even mentioned that she had a boyfriend- “ Sakura took out a picture of Naruto. Since his registration picture was a joke, and he was making a face in their team photo, she’d had to dig around a bit to find the picture she wanted. One where he faced the camera straight on, something that would help make the resemblance clear. She’d snuck into his apartment to look, but he didn’t seem to really have any pictures there. She finally found one from their Academy yearbook.

She placed Kushina’s registration picture on top of it, and pulled out the copy she’d made of the Yondaime’s picture.  _ Minato Namikaze. _ Nodding in satisfaction, she passed the resulting work to Shikamaru.

His eyes widened and his face stilled, before he finally handed it back and sighed. “How troublesome.” 

“What? What?” Kiba pushed his way forward and grabbed the resulting picture. “No freaking way!” he yelled. “Naruto’s the  _ Yondaime’s _ son!?!” 

“The Yondaime?!?” Ino exclaimed. 

Sasuke hung back while everyone else crowded around Sakura’s work. He’d suspected that Naruto had secrets, but this was the first one they’d truly discovered and he didn’t know what to think about it. Was it true? Had Naruto known? It was almost a relief to have found  _ something _ , but what could this possibly have to do with whatever this mysterious mission was that Naruto was supposedly on? 

He was apparently not the only one who was having such thoughts.

“When you see Kushina and the Yondaime together, the familial resemblance is clear.” Shino quietly stated. “However, this can not be the only secret. That is because if Naruto is the Yondaime’s son, I would expect him to be treated better.”

Shikamaru nodded. “Sakura, Hinata - good job. This probably explains why it was the Sandaime that delivered Naruto to the orphanage.” He looked pensive and softly added, “It looks like Naruto lost both his parents the night of the Kyuubi attack.”

“The day he was born,” Hinata added.

“What should we look into next?” Sakura asked. While the scope of their investigation was only beginning to dawn on her, she was still pumped at her discovery. It might take a few months, but she was sure they would eventually uncover whatever mysteries her teammate was hiding. 

Shikamaru placed the composite picture of Naruto and his parents on the board, then stopped to study it.

“You know, this could explain why Jiraiya-sama trained Naruto. He  _ is  _ the one who trained the Yondaime, after all. Still, Shino is right. Being the Yondaime’s son doesn’t explain why Naruto was treated the way he was. Nor does it explain his massive chakra reserves, or any sort of change to his eye color.” His hands moved into his thinking position. Finally he sighed.

“What a drag. I think we need to focus on the eye change, and maybe his chakra reserves. It’s probably not a dojutsu, though don’t dismiss any leads out of hand. It may take a while, but keep your eyes and ears peeled.”

 

********************************

 

The next few months were hectic - most of the Konoha 12 were kept busy with missions and training, and the investigation stalled. They called themselves the ‘Konoha 12’, even though Naruto was missing, because they decided he still counted as one of them. They still met at Sasuke’s place in what was becoming a weekly routine. At least, weekly when Team 7 was in the village. Naruto’s absence had, strangely, brought the rest of the gennin together. Even when they didn’t discover anything new, getting together to talk about the investigation led to a growing closeness and familiarity. Still, even as Sasuke grumpily hosted the meetings and Choji ensured they were well fed, they could sense a hole where Naruto should be. Ought to be.

The next big breakthrough didn’t come for three months, and it happened in a rather unexpected way. Shikamaru had been rotating through various sections in the intelligence department, learning the ropes. Team 10 was focused on collecting information out in the field - Choji helped defend and distract, Shikamaru captured the target and Ino would read the target’s mind. Together, the Ino-Shika-Cho combination was perfect for what they did. But they were more effective when they knew how the rest of intelligence worked. Ino, naturally, had connections to the interrogation side… and the famed Nara intelligence was perfect for analytical work. 

Shikamaru was thus assigned to help sort mission reports and various other sources of intelligence. Each report was given a code based on the information inside - sometimes even two or three codes. Those codes indicated what information was contained in the report, and ensured a copy was routed to the correct analyst for that topic. If need be, copies were made to ensure each section received the information they needed. A mission report on an assassination in the Land of Lightning might be routed to the analyst covering the Cloud Village, but if the report also mentioned an encounter with a missing-nin, for example, a copy might be made and given to the analyst covering that missing-nin. Such sightings helped Konoha keep track of dangerous ninjas like Orochimaru and Itachi. Of course, most ninjas didn’t necessarily know what codes to include in their reports, and if they included one at all, it was generally the one most relevant to the report. Which meant that critical information might not get routed to the analyst most in need of that information. For this rotation, Shikamaru’s job was to review the reports and ensure they were coded correctly. 

Most of the codes were fairly well known - Cloud, Sand, Mist. Missing-nins. Politics among feudal lords and ladies, merchant shipping, and more. Shikamaru had been working at this position for about a week, and had grown familiar with the most common codes. This report, however, had an unfamiliar code. Sand made sense, of course. The mission report was from a ninja carrying diplomatic messages from Konoha to Sand - part of the fallout from the failed invasion during the Chunin exams. But someone had added another intelligence code to the report, one Shikamaru didn’t know. 

He normally would ask the ninja who regularly did this duty - but the more experienced ninja was out to lunch. He sighed and pulled out the scroll listing the codes and their associated analytical section.  _ Jinchuriki? What the hell is a jinchuriki? ‘The power of human sacrifice’, sounds troublesome. _

He reviewed the report, most of which seemed fairly standard for a diplomatic mission. One particular section caught his attention, though:

 

> 'Rumors say that Gaara, the Yondaime Kazekage’s youngest son, is missing. Nobody has seen him in months. While Sand has not yet appointed their next Kazekage, village leaders were evasive when questioned about his whereabouts.'

 

Did a jinchuriki have something to do with Gaara? Shikamaru shivered as he remembered his last encounter with the murderous ninja. Gaara’s attempt at killing Rock Lee was bad enough, but his transformation into the giant sand tanuki was even worse. They were lucky Naruto had been there to stop him. Naruto… 

Shikamaru checked the routing instructions for the jinchuriki code and grabbed the report.  _ Since I don’t actually know what a jinchuriki is, it makes sense to ask the analyst about it. Wouldn’t want to waste his or her time if this was coded incorrectly. _

The intelligence department was a warren, and it took some time before Shikamaru found the correct analyst’s office. The placard outside said ‘Masahiro Nara’. The last name was not a surprise. Many Nara wound up joining the intelligence corps, especially if they were no longer mission capable. Naras loved their puzzles, and in some ways being an analyst was their dream job. The name wasn’t very familiar, but Shikamaru didn’t claim to know everyone in his clan. Especially analysts - some of them got so tied up in their work that they never left the office. Shikamaru knocked on the door.

“Come in, the door’s open.” 

Shikamaru entered the room. A middle-aged man with the trademark Nara hair was sitting at his desk. He was looking through some papers with a distracted air. He paused to look at Shikamaru. “Can I help you?”

“I have a report here that was coded for your attention, and I wanted to make sure it was filed correctly” Shikamaru handed the report to the man.

The Nara, presumably the Masahiro listed on the door, took a moment to skim through the report. “Ah, yes. This came to the right place, thank you.” and he moved to place the report on another pile on his desk.

“Uh, sir?” Shikamaru wasn’t ready to give up a potential lead so easily. Masahiro lost his distracted air as he focused on the young chunin, one brow raised in an unspoken question.

“What, exactly, is a jinchuriki?”

Masahiro hummed to himself for a second. “Sit down, grab a seat” he waved towards one a chair by his desk.

‘You’re what - a chunin? I suppose it makes sense that you wouldn’t know. Now then...you could learn most of what I’m about to tell you for yourself. There’s information on jinchuriki in the library, and some of it is common knowledge. Just ask your parents, or older ninja. Some of it is classified, though, so I can’t answer every question.”

“A jinchuriki is someone who has a Tailed Beast sealed inside. Like Gaara,” he nodded towards the report. “He has the One-Tailed Beast, Shukaku, sealed inside of him. The Tailed Beasts give their jinchuriki an incredible amount of chakra, which makes them potentially very powerful. The Hidden Villages split the Tailed Beasts up in a rather poor attempt at deterrence.”

Shikamaru’s thoughts were spinning as he felt pieces clicking into place. He remembered a hospital room, Gaara caught in his shadow jutsu and Naruto by his side.  _ I have a real monster in me. _ Naruto had said that, and Gaara had said he did, too. Gaara was a jinchuriki, did that make… ?

Shikamaru set those thoughts aside for the moment. He didn’t know nearly enough, and he wanted to draw out as much information as he could. “Deterrence?”

Masahiro nodded, and stood up. A previously concealed artificial leg made a thump with every other step as he walked towards a map on the wall. “The One-Tail is sealed inside Gaara, held by the Sand Village. After the Chunin Exams you probably already knew that. The Two-Tails is in Cloud, Three-Tails… well, Three-Tails was in Mist, but it’s host was killed with the Beast still sealed inside.” He waved a hand to indicate the villages in question. “You can’t kill a Tailed Beast, so it’s probably reforming and will appear again in a couple of years.” 

It was like rotating a puzzle piece around, and suddenly discovering that when you turn it sideways, it just might fit into place.  _ You can’t kill a Tailed Beast _ . But the Yondaime reportedly killed the Nine-Tailed Fox. Was the Nine-Tails a Tailed Beast, though?

“Just how many are there?” Shikamaru asked.

“Nine.” Shikamaru got a sinking feeling in his gut. The puzzle was close to being complete, and it was much bigger than he expected.  _ How troublesome. _ Masahiro was still talking, though.

“...each with a different number of tails.”

“Like the Nine-Tails?”

Masahiro gave him a piercing look, but nodded.

“Four-Tails may be somewhere in Stone, as is the Five-Tails. It’s hard to keep track of them, to be honest. People act strange when they know there’s a monster capable of leveling mountains in your gut, and some of the jinchuriki get fed up and leave. Given their strength and the political ramifications, villages will sometimes let them wander around freely rather than declare them missing-nin. They just hope that the jinchuriki will come if they are ever truly needed. Given the requirements for selecting a jinchuriki, it’s hard to tell whether the ones that do so have truly abandoned their villages or are still willing to fight on its behalf.”

“Requirements?” Shikamaru had questions. So many, many questions. But he figured he’d follow Masahiro’s lead for now. He hadn’t even known what a jinchuriki was until a moment ago, and at this point he didn’t know what was relevant and what wasn’t.  _ Plus, it’s interesting how Masahiro hasn’t even mentioned the Nine-Tails, or Konoha, even though he as much as admitted that the Nine-Tails is one of them. Is there some reason why he isn’t talking about the Nine-Tails? Maybe the same reason none of their parents were willing to talk about Naruto? _

“Yes. A good jinchuriki has to have large chakra reserves in the first place, or the Tailed Beast will overwhelm them. It’s also a good idea to pick someone young, so their chakra adapts and grows more compatible. When young, a jinchuriki will often struggle with chakra control for a couple of reasons - large chakra reserves is the obvious one. Less well known is that the chakra of the Tailed Beast can sometimes disrupt or interfere with their jutsu, until they grow together and begin to resonate.”

Shikamaru recalled how much trouble Naruto had creating clones in the Academy, and how easily he spammed Shadow Clones in the exams.  _ If there was a checklist for jinchuriki, Naruto would be checking every box. _

Masahiro continued. “There are also political considerations. Villages want their jinchuriki to be loyal. It’s no surprise, then, that Gaara is the son of a Kazekage. And Killer B - the host of the Eight-Tails - is brother to the Raikage. He’s reported to have the best control of his Beast, and can even transform - fully and partially - into the Eight-Tail’s Ushi-Oni form. He earned the Yondaime’s respect back in the Third War.”

“Did you know that Gaara was a jinchuriki before the Chunin exams?” Shikamaru couldn’t help but ask. Would they have treated him any differently if they’d known? Would Lee have been so badly injured? What was the standard procedure for handling jinchuriki during the exams, anyway?

“Ah, not quite. While we know which villages were originally given which Tailed Beasts, most villages take precautions to protect the identity of their hosts. Powerful as they are, they can still be defeated. Or worse, captured.”

“Why would that be worse?”

“A captured jinchuriki might have their Tailed Beast extracted. It’s happened before, when one group or another preferred having the Beast under someone else’s control.”

“What happens if it’s extracted?”

“The jinchuriki dies.” Masahiro sighed. “Their chakra systems grow in symbiosis with the the Tailed Beast. They adapt. Take away the Tailed Beasts, and their system shuts down. That’s why villages try to keep their identities secret. Doing so doesn’t exactly work. Or rather, it sort of works. A surprising amount of information is openly available, if you know where to look and what questions to ask. Things ninjas notice while out on a mission, or even tales they tell while sitting at a bar. There had been reports about Gaara before the Chunin Exams, for example, rumors about his powers. Rumors - well, I’m sure you know how difficult it is to sort fact from fiction. Rumors can be extremely useful, but you have to be careful with them, especially since people are prone to exaggerating and making things up. Sometimes they’ll even deliberately create rumors to mislead their enemies.” 

“You should be familiar with how to sort through that, though. It’s standard practice - look for corroboration, see if rumors support each other, but be careful to consider deliberate misdirection. Too many rumors of the exact same type could actually indicate an active campaign to spread misinformation… which is useful to know, in and of itself. Regardless, it’s one thing to suspect, and it’s an entirely different thing to know. Killer B has been around for a while, and used his Tailed Beast in battle. He’s fairly well known as a jinchuriki by now. The others, however… “

Shikamaru had a lot to think about, and quite a number of leads to follow up on. “Thank you for your time. If I come across anything jinchuriki related, I’ll be sure to route it to you.”

“I’d appreciate it. Oh, and route anything to do with the Akatsuki here, too.”

“Akatsuki?” Shikamaru raised his eyebrows.

“These days jinchuriki don’t generate a lot of reports, you know. Not enough to keep me fully occupied. It’d be different if there was a war going on, of course. Right now, though, I mostly deal with rumors here and there, reports of sightings… Given how quiet things are on that front, I’m the analyst for a couple of different things. Akatsuki’s the newest. They’re an organization of S-rank missing-nins, known to wear black coats with red clouds. I got assigned the organization because someone thinks there’s a connection to the jinchuriki. I’m not sure if that’s been confirmed, though. They’re pretty secretive and there’s only one incident that I’m aware of.”

_ An organization of S-rank missing-nins? What the hell is Naruto caught up in? _ “I’ll be sure to do that,” Shikamaru promised.


	6. Revelations Complete. For now.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shikamaru tells the Konoha 12 about what he'd learned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go, another chapter. Only a little bit further and then I'll timeskip through to an older crowd, and have some fun things happen.
> 
> Btw, my beta has unfortunately gotten a bit too busy in RL, so I'm looking for anyone else who's willing to help with the story. Let me know if you're interested!

Shikamaru spent the next few days confirming most of what Masahiro had told him. As the analyst had said, a lot of information was freely available, and Shikamaru had a lot of luck now that he knew what to look for. He also started digging into Akatsuki, and what he found concerned him a great deal. Especially when he heard a rumor that Itachi had joined Akatsuki, and tracked down Sasuke to ask about his encounter. He knew that Itachi had put Kakashi and Sasuke in the hospital, and that Naruto was tied into it somehow. Even though he was expecting it, he got a chill when Sasuke told him that Itachi and his partner - Kisame Hoshigaki, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and another S-rank missing-nin! - were wearing black coats with red clouds.  _ Is this the incident Masahiro mentioned? _

He spent another day or two collecting his thoughts before finally calling the Konoha 12 - sans Naruto, of course - together. Luckily, everyone was actually in the village this time.

Something about his expression must have given a hint of what was coming, because his friends settled down surprisingly quickly as he took his usual place at the front. 

“You found something, didn’t you?” Sakura asked, hope and worry warring in her eyes.

Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably as he nodded. “I think so. It explains a lot, actually. But… “ he studied the faces of his fellow classmates. His friends. Everyone looked so - young. Vulnerable. There’s no way they were ready to go up against an entire organization of S-rank missing nins. Look at what Orochimaru had done to Konoha, much less what Itachi and Kisame had done to Sasuke and Kakashi! He wasn’t sure what they were getting into, but he knew he had to impress upon everyone the gravity of what he’d found.

“If my suspicions are correct, we’re dealing with something very big here. You all know how hard it’s been getting our parents and teachers to answer certain questions - I suspect what we want to know is classified, and I want all of you to treat this discussion as though it were an S-rank secret.”

“Yosh!” Lee pumped his fist in the air. “I won’t tell anyone what we say here, especially if it will protect Naruto-kun!”

Shikamaru took a deep breath, and began. “I’m going to lay out everything I learned. I don’t have any real proof, but most of the pieces fit together. Let me know if you see any flaws in my thinking. It started with a report regarding Gaara.” He paused, and glanced around the room. 

“You all remember how he turned into a giant tanuki during the invasion? It seems he is something called a jinchuriki. That tanuki was the physical manifestation of Shukaku, the One-Tailed Beast sealed inside him at birth.” There was some surprise, but everyone had known something was off about Gaara and a few heads were nodding. 

“A jinchuriki is known for massive chakra reserves, as well as a few other abilities that depend on the jinchuriki in question. They all have the potential for a physical transformation as well as other abilities that are unique to each Beast. For example, Cloud has a jinchuriki with the Eight-Tailed Beast who can supposedly turn into a giant Ushi-Oni.”

A few of the Konoha 12 looked confused, not sure why he was talking about this. He suspected that Shino, Sakura and Sasuke suspected where he was going with it. 

“There are actually nine Tailed Beasts, and each one has a different number of tails. Just before the Third Exam, Naruto and I encountered Gaara. He was in Lee’s hospital room.” He nodded to the green clad boy. 

“We had - words. At one point, Naruto said that he ‘had a real monster inside of him.’” Sakura looked grim. “Gaara said that he had one too.”

“The facts - the fact is that there are nine Tailed Beasts, and they were divided amongst the villages. Sort of as a way to deter the villages from attacking each other, though that hasn’t worked out very well. They can’t just pick anyone to be a jinchuriki, either. They need rather large chakra reserves of their own if they’re to avoid being consumed by the Tailed Beast’s chakra, and they are often relatives of a kage. Like Gaara was. Nobody has mentioned whether Konoha has one or not, but I was able to confirm that the Kyuubi is one of the Tailed Beasts. Naturally, the Nine-Tails.”

By the growing looks of horror, he could tell most of them had figured it out. 

“But- the Yondaime killed the Nine-Tailsi!” Sakura was already looking for holes in his logic.

“A Tailed Beast can’t actually be killed. It’s a massive construct of chakra and all that, you know. You can’t kill chakra. At best, they dissipate when their jinchuriki dies and take a couple of years to reform.”

“If the Yondaime didn’t kill the Nine-Tails, how did he defeat it?” Hinata asked with quiet determination.

“I  _ suspect _ ” Shikamaru paused for emphasis, “that he sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox in Naruto.”

Silence, though nobody protested his conclusion.

“It explains his massive chakra reserves. It even explains why he had so much trouble creating a regular clone - he had  _ too much _ chakra, and the Tailed Beast interfered with his control.” He grimly continued. “It also explains why so many adults treat him poorly, why so many of us were warned away from him when we were young. And it explains why his eyes could turn red.”

Shino gave a small nod of acceptance. Sakura looked slightly horrified. Choji was quietly eating, and didn’t seem too concerned. Not that that surprised Shikamaru, Choji generally trusted Shikamaru’s judgement, and he’d follow Shikamaru’s lead. Everyone else looked uncomfortable.

Neji seemed slightly stunned. “And I said he could never understand what it’s like to be burdened… “ 

Kiba finally broke the moment. “Hey, this is Naruto we’re talking about! Kyuubi or not, he’s still just a loud-mouthed brat!”

“H-he’s still Naruto-kun” Hinata said in a surprisingly firm tone.

Although the rookies were still processing the concept, their tension had eased. 

Until Sasuke pinned Shikamaru with a look. “There’s more.”

It wasn’t a question. 

Shikamaru nodded as, once again, he found himself the center of everyone’s attention. 

“There is apparently an organization, called Akatsuki, that may or may not be trying to capture all the jinchuriki.”

“Akatsuki?” 

Shikamaru grimaced. “All I know is that they are an organization of S-class criminals, that they wear black coats with red clouds on them… “ Shikamaru noted Sasuke’s fists clenching together. “ … and it’s possible they already tried capturing Naruto once.” 

Sasuke met Shikamaru’s gaze and nodded. “Itachi and his partner were wearing cloaks like that when they attacked. They were after Naruto, and the only reason we survived was because the Toad Sage was there.” 

He hated admitting it, hated his weakness, hated how easily his brother had overcome him.  _ Akatsuki, huh? _

“An  _ entire organization _ of S-class criminals? Holy shit!” Kiba exclaimed.

“What would they want with jinchuriki?” Sakura wondered.

Shikamaru shifted his feet. “I’m not sure. It’s possible that they want to extract the Tailed Beasts and seal them into someone more willing to follow their orders.”

“W-what happens if they do?” Hinata asked.

“The jinchuriki… dies.” 

Everyone grew somber at that, until Lee excitedly jumped to his feet. “Then we must train hard and grow stronger, so that we can defeat Akatsuki!”

“But.. S-Class?” Sakura wondered aloud. “We’re not even close to that level. And we don’t even know where Naruto  _ is _ ! For all we know, Akatsuki could have grabbed him and extracted the Kyuubi already!”

Nobody could dispute that horrifying statement.

“We will do what we can. Even the smallest insect can be surprisingly useful.” Shino turned his gaze back on Shikamaru. “You already have a plan.”

“Of sorts.” He grimaced. So… troublesome. “Let’s review what we think we know, first. Naruto is the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi.” He met everyone’s eyes, and found only agreement. 

“Itachi, an S-class criminal and probably a member of Akatsuki, tried to attack Naruto. His partner was another S-class criminal - Kisame Hoshigaki, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, also known as the ‘Tailed Beast Without a Tail’. Both were wearing black coats with red clouds.” Again, no one disputed his claims.

“While I can’t confirm that Naruto is a jinchuriki or that Akatsuki is trying to capture all the Tailed Beasts, I think we have enough evidence to support those claims. Or that they’re after the Nine-Tails, at least. The rest of this is… more shaky.” Privately, Shikamaru felt like he was still missing a few pieces to the puzzle. “Think about what you would do if you found out you were targeted by an organization of S-Class criminals.”

“Correction.” He added before anyone could speak. “ _ If you were Naruto _ , what would you do if you were found out you were being targeted?”

“I would train even harder!” Lee cried. “I would need to be stronger!”

Shikamaru nodded. “That’s why I think we’re still missing a few pieces. On his own, I think Naruto would have stayed and trained even harder. However… “ this was now pure guesswork. He had pondered everything he knew about the loud-mouthed enigma, had asked Sasuke and Sakura about Naruto’s motivations, and considered what would drive someone like that - someone determined to be Hokage, who loved Konoha and wanted to ‘protect his precious people’ - to leave in such a questionable manner.

“Consider what Orochimaru did during the invasion. Just one S-class ninja, and he managed to kill the Sandaime, as well as wreak havoc on Konoha. Itachi and his partner were just two S-class ninjas, and they managed to put Kakashi and Sasuke in a hospital for weeks.”

Sakura had a troubled look on her face as she hesitantly spoke up. “You think he’s worried about who else would get hurt? That… that Naruto left Konoha to  _ protect _ people?”

Shikamaru nodded. “You, both of you from Team 7, said that Naruto was always talking about his ‘precious people’. He’s got S-Class criminals after him, criminals who are willing to harm anyone who gets in the way. What happens if that includes those he considers precious?”

“It fits.” Shino tilted his head in consideration. 

“That doesn’t make him less of an idiot,” Kiba growled.

“As for what we can do,” Shikamaru drew everyone’s attention again. “Unfortunately, for now, not a lot. Keep our eyes and ears open, for the most part. Train, grow stronger. None of us are ready to take on S-ranked opponents right now, at least not without a lot of help. I’m going to change the board entirely - I want to start tracking everything we know about jinchuriki and Akatsuki.” 

“Also… I was recently reminded that there are a lot of ways to get information. I’d like us to start hanging out in areas where people… gossip. Listen to what they say. Particularly places where travelers are likely to gather. That report on Gaara said he was missing, and if that’s true than we know of at least two jinchuriki who have left their villages. There may be more, though not all of their disappearances may be tied to Akatsuki.” Again, he grimaced. “You all know by  now that it can take a while before we learn anything new.”

“Be patient, train hard, pay attention, and treat everything we’ve discussed like an S-class secret.” 

Slowly, determination grew on each of his friends’ faces as they nodded in agreement. 

 

********************************

 

_ Whack. _

Sasuke hit the training dummy with his new chokuto sword. He’d started learning the sword for his spars against Sai. 

_ Whack. _

He was too distracted to do anything new, but practicing his moves never hurt. And he needed something mind-numbingly physical to do. If he wore himself out enough he could fall asleep without thinking too hard about Shikamaru’s revelations.

_ Whack. _

“You know, if you train too hard you could actually injure yourself.”

Sasuke didn’t even deign to acknowledge Kakashi.

_ Whack. _

So Naruto was a jinchuriki. That explained a lot, actually. And Itachi, the man who killed Sasuke’s mother. Father. His entire clan. The man who had destroyed his world.  _ HE _ was after Naruto. And not just that man, an entire organization of criminals as strong as Itachi were after Naruto. Probably. If they hadn’t gotten him already. 

_ Whack. _

As if that weren’t bad enough, he couldn’t help thinking of more… selfish things. It had dawned on him that if he’d stayed by Naruto’s side, his brother would eventually have come to him. His entire purpose for living, his quest for vengeance, could actually have been made easier if he’d known all this.

_ Whack. _

And he felt ashamed of himself, when Itachi had attacked Naruto he’d felt… almost jealous. That his brother ignored him in favor of Naruto. Wanted Naruto, even if it was for something bad. That Sasuke was yet again unworthy and  _ weak _ in the eyes of his brother.

_ Whack. _

How messed up is that? Naruto could be lying dead somewhere, the Nine-Tails extracted, and he was upset that his brother was more interested in Naruto than himself. 

_ Whack. _

If Itachi got ahold of Naruto, Naruto would die. 

_ Whack. _

Tunnel vision. Naruto said he had tunnel vision, the last time Sasuke ever saw him. Was that why Sasuke had missed all this? He'd scoffed at the idea before. He didn't have tunnel vision, he was just - focused. He didn't need any distractions, he had a goal and a plan to achieve it. 

Grow stronger, track down Itachi, and kill him. But ignoring the ‘distraction’ of Naruto meant he’d missed something. Something relevant. (And if there were non-Itachi related things he missed as well, he'd never admit it.) Maybe his single-minded focus really was a problem. 

_ Whack.  _

Why didn’t Naruto tell him he had a giant monster in his gut, anyway?

_ Whack. _

Sure, they didn’t have that sort of… friendship. He supposed they were friends. Had been since the Wave mission. But- 

_ Whack. _

They’d never talked about it. It’s not like Sasuke was the type to do that sort of thing - talk about emotions.  _ Feelings _ . He didn’t need them. Didn’t want them.  _ Nothing _ could get in the way of his goals. 

_ Whack. _

So why did he feel…  hurt like something was wrong? Why did he think that idiot should have told him about being a jinchuriki? That was Naruto's business, and if he hadn’t wanted to talk about it, fine. It’s not like Sasuke had asked to hear about Naruto’s problems in the first place. 

Sasuke understood secrets, he had some of his own and he wasn’t willing to tell them to just anyone. He never talked about what Itachi had told him that night, about how to gain power. 

Why should it matter that Naruto had secrets, too? Why did it feel like a betrayal? Like Naruto hadn't trusted him? 

_ Whack. _

As for why Naruto had left, Sasuke agreed with Shikamaru. There was no way Naruto would have given up being Hokage lightly. Protection? Yeah, Sasuke could sort of see it. But if that was the reason that fool had left! 

Sasuke had never asked to be protected like that. Shouldn't he have had some sort of say in it? Or at least some sort of warning? Naruto had left without talking to any of them. Left without saying a word to the people who were supposed to be his  _ team _ .

_ Whack _ . 

And he couldn’t help wondering if there was something he could have done, to change what had happened. After all, he had noticed something was off that day at the hospital. He'd been so determined to fight Naruto, determined to prove he was still better, that he'd ignored it. Dismissed it. If he'd said something back then, if he'd asked Naruto what was wrong… would Naruto have told him? 

_ Whack _ . 

It slowly dawned on Sasuke that Kakashi hadn’t left. His teacher didn’t seem to be waiting, exactly. He stood slouched against a tree, as if he’d decided that’s where he wanted to lounge around for a bit. 

Sasuke slowed and finally stopped.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” he faced his teacher.

“Maa.” Kakashi looked… odd. Deliberately casual, too much so. His relaxed posture somehow screamed with tension.

“I never told you how I got the sharingan, did I.”

Sasuke stared. He’d wondered, of course. How someone who wasn’t an Uchiha wound up with one of their eyes. Why he hadn’t been arrested or killed for it. But, why was Kakashi bringing it up now?

His teacher had a distant look on his face, staring at nothing in particular. Sasuke almost thought Kakashi was done speaking, except his teacher hadn’t left. Yet.

“I- My genin team. My teammate was… annoying. He was always late, and always had the most ridiculous excuses.”

Sasuke gave his teacher an incredulous stare. 

“I never respected him, never took him seriously.”

Another long pause. Sasuke was afraid that if he moved, if he spoke, he’d lose the moment and Kakashi would never bring it up again.

Kakashi finally took a deep breath, and let it out. “There was a mission. Our other teammate was captured. We- argued.”

“About what to do.”

“I wanted to go on, to complete the mission. He wanted to rescue our teammate.”

The sun was setting, and a cool wind blew through the training ground. 

“He’s the one who said that ‘those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash’. And he said that- to me.”

Sasuke had never seen such a look of vulnerability on his teacher’s face before. What he could see of Kakashi’s face.

“He was- ” Kakashi hesitated, “right.”

Sasuke felt a sense of foreboding.

“I decided to help. That’s when this happened.” Kakashi waved his hand at his hidden eye and the scar on his face.

“We rescued our teammate, but… “

Kakashi closed his eye.

“An enemy got a jutsu off, and the cave we were in started to collapse.” Kakashi took another deep breath. “Obito knocked me out of the way of a giant boulder.”

“Half his body was crushed.”

“He was dying.”

“He’d awakened his sharingan during the fight, and he asked me to take his eye. Wanted me to replace the one I’d lost.”

Quietly, he added. “To see the future, with him.”

Again, silence. Sasuke felt uncertain. 

He also wasn’t sure why Kakashi was telling him this, but it seemed - disrespectful - to pretend the words didn’t matter. Not in the face of such… pain. He had never seen his teacher like this, and it made him uncomfortable. Like he was given a glimpse into his teacher’s soul, and he was shocked to realize how deep Kakashi’s pain was. And how similar it was to his own. 

Again, Kakashi took a long time before he continued.

“I have… many regrets in my life,” his teacher finally spoke again. “Perhaps the greatest is that I had been too focused on the wrong things, and that it took a friend’s death to change that.”

Maybe the situations weren’t exactly the same, maybe Sasuke wasn’t really sure what Kakashi’s point was. Naruto wasn’t dead -  _ he hoped _ \- and Sasuke was not ready to say he’d been too focused on the wrong things. Not yet.  Still, somehow, as a cool wind blew through the training ground and the sun sank into the trees, he felt… connected. Less alone. 

And something eased inside.


	7. A Close Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 comes across something unusual while on a mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't resist posting something for Halloween. I just love this holiday! It's one of the few that are not some variation of "eat a large meal with your friends and family."
> 
> I love seeing people dress up in costume, and everyone out in their neighborhoods. Or someone else's neighborhood, but they're still out and about.
> 
> In other news, somewhat irrelevant to the story, I am buckling down to hunt for a job. See, I graduate this December with a degree in Computer Science, so it's time to start the (painful) process of sending out resumes and whatnot. Wish me luck!

Light poured through the windows, making it impossible to miss the stacks of paper piled on Tsunade’s desk. She steepled her fingers and frowned slightly as she watched Team 7. “I’m giving you a C-rank mission. You’ll be escorting some merchants to the Land of Hot Water.” 

Before she could continue, a small toad hopped onto her desk and gave a loud croak. Once it had her attention, the toad opened its mouth and dropped off an envelope. As Tsunade opened the letter, a small token fell out. It looked like some sort of casino coin, with a chain threaded through a hole in the middle. Her expression lightened as she perused the letter, fingering the token.

“Right.” She put the letter aside and turned her attention back to Team 7. “An escort mission. It should only take a couple of weeks. Meet the client at Konoha’s gates in about four hours. Kakashi” she focused on their sensei. “Stay back a minute, I want to talk to you.”

The rest of team 7 left to pack. A few hours later, they were standing at the gates, waiting for their sensei as usual. Kakashi finally appeared another hour later, and introduced them to the group of merchants who were their clients. The merchants were apparently combining business with pleasure, and planned to enjoy the hot springs while looking for new business opportunities.

Except for an encounter with a few ordinary bandits - laughably weak against ninjas - nothing too exciting happened on their way out. They had successfully completed their mission and were on the way back when Kakashi came to a sudden stop, his head pivoting to the north. “Hmmm. That’s quite a large chakra signature,” he offhandedly said.

Sakura felt a small shiver go down her spines as she sensed the powerful chakra. Whoever it was, they were very, very strong.

“You guys wait here, I want to check it out.”

“But, sensei!” Sakura protested. “It’s not a good idea to split up!”

Sasuke nodded in agreement.

“If it’s at all dangerous, better to have us as backup.” Sai added.

Kakashi gave his young team an unreadable expression, then nodded. “If you’re coming with me, promise to obey my commands. If I tell you to leave, leave. No arguing.”

The rest of Team 7 nodded in acceptance.

The chakra grew stronger as they approached, so powerful Sakura could almost taste it. Kakashi signaled for them to slow down as he looked for a good observation point.

His team found hiding spots nearby, and Sakura finally got a glimpse of what had drawn them off course. She gave a small gasp as she saw what appeared to be a large, blue cat. It had black markings and two tails.  _ Could it be? The Two-Tails?  _ Sakura thought to herself.

Facing the cat were two men, both wearing black coats with some sort of red pattern. Sakura felt a shiver go down her spine. It was hard to be sure, but the red blobs looked kind of like clouds.  _ Could it be? Akatsuki - here? _

One of the men was carrying what looked like a large scythe with three blades. The second man was patiently observing from the side.

“Woohoo!” the man with the scythe yelled ecstatically as he dodged a blast of fire. “Damn that’s hot! She must love spicy food!”

He threw his scythe towards the large cat, who dodged it by inches. “It’s too bad we need you alive. Jashin would love to see me slaughter you.”

_ So fast! _ Sakura thought to herself. The cat was nimbly dodging the scythe, throwing fireballs at the Akatsuki member every chance she got. Sakura thought it was a ‘she’, based on what the scythe-wielder had said. He, in turn, evaded her attacks easily. Suddenly, the cat fired off a series of small balls of fire that turned into mice. They began to explode just as they reached the scythe wielder.

Even though smoke hid the Akatsuki member, he had been caught directly in the blast and Sakura thought he must have been hit pretty hard. Then the smoke started to clear and she gave a small gasp.

The Akatsuki member was standing there, hardly injured at all. “That hurt!” he complained. “Heathens like you can never comprehend the pain of another. Don’t worry, though, I will soon teach you the error of your ways.”

The scythe whipped out again, this time nicking the large cat. It’s wielder quickly moved to a circle that someone had drawn on the ground. It was a dark red, almost as though it had been drawn in blood, and had a triangle in the center. He brought the scythe up to his face and…  _ licked it? How crazy is this guy? _

“Soon you will feel Jashin’s judgement!” he cackled maniacally.

Sasuke saw movement from the corner of his eye. Kakashi was… giving some sort of hand signal? He turned his head slightly and caught a glimpse of a strange kunoichi. She was well hidden in the trees and looking at Kakashi. She gave a small shake of her head and disappeared so quickly Sasuke wondered if he’d imagined it all.

Before Sasuke could think about it further, a loud yell drew his attention back to the fight. What looked like a large octopus with-  _ A bull’s head? An ushi-oni? Is that- Is that the Eight-Tails? _ His breath caught.

“Don’t mess with Yugito! It’s just not right-o! Wheeeel!” _An ushi-oni that… raps?_ _What the hell did we stumble into?_

The large beast knocked the scythe-wielding Akatsuki member clear across the field. “Another one!” the man yelled. “Kakuzu, we’re in luck today!”

“We didn’t plan on two, Hidan. Do you need my assistance?” the second man, Kakuzu, warned. 

“Don’t interfere!” Hidan yelled back. “My blood is up now, and I could use the action.”

He sent his scythe flying towards the giant eight-tailed jinchuriki, but the jinchuriki batted it away.

The large blue cat crouched and spat another ball of fire at Hidan. 

“Enough, Hidan.” Kakuzu  _ moved _ , and was suddenly standing next to the scythe wielder. “We’ll take them down together.” He threw off his cloak, and strange sorts of lumps started appearing in his flesh. It looked like something - or some  _ things _ \- were trying to get out. Strange black shapes poured out from seams on Kakuzu’s back, each with a different porcelain mask where a face would be.

Two of the porcelain-faced figures engaged the Two-Tailed cat while Hidan started to charge at the Eight-Tails. Tentacles were flying all around Hidan, trying to catch or strike at the Akatsuki member, when the strange black creatures opened their mouths. Two streams flew, fire from one an electricity from another, engulfing Hidan as they targeted the Eight-Tailed monster.

_ He… targeted his own teammate?  _ Sasuke’s eyes grew wide. A maniacal laugh signaled yet another string of attacks by Hidan, who had clearly survived.  _ What  _ are _ they?!? _

“You can’t seem to die, that doesn’t mean I can’t make you fly! Oh yeah!” a voice boomed over the battlefield. The next time Hidan threw his scythe at the Eight-Tailed Beast, the Ushi-oni caught the scythe in a tentacle and  _ pulled. _

Hidan went flying.

_ I- I didn’t know anyone could throw a shinobi so far! What. The. Heck. _ Sasuke thought to himself.

“Kaaakuuuzuuu!” Hidan yelled as he was launched into the air, his voice fading as he disappeared from sight.

The remaining Akatsuki member stared at the two Tailed Beasts, who turned to face him together. “That idiot. I warned him to be careful.” One of the Tailed Beasts opened its mouth, and a massive ball started to form.

Kakashi gave his team the signal to withdraw. “We don’t want to be here for that,” he said.

As they quickly left the area, Sasuke started replaying the strange encounter in his mind.  _ A jinchuriki. TWO jinchuriki. Is that what Naruto is capable of? _ And… those Akatsuki members. They were ready to go up against that sort of power. What monstrous capabilities did they have?

A rather subdued Team 7 approached Konoha’s walls a few days later. 

“Hey, Sai?” Sakura turned to her teammate. “A couple of my friends and I go out sometimes, when we’re in town. Would you like to join us?”

 

********************************

 

“Kakashi?” Sai looked mildly upset, which for such a stoic individual meant extreme discomfort. “Can I have some.. advice?”

“What can I do for you, Sai?”

 

********************************

 

“Sakura, Sasuke” Sai appeared at Team 7’s meeting place, a strange expression on his face. “I have something to tell you.”

Kakashi appeared not a moment later.

“I asked Kakashi to be here for this. He can explain some of the things I can’t.” Kakashi casually leaned against a tree and pulled out his book.

Sakura and Sasuke glanced at each other in surprise, not sure what Sai could possibly have to tell them. Or why he would need Kakashi’s help in order to do so.

“I was assigned to Team 7 with a secondary mission.” Sai continued. 

“A- a secondary mission?” Sakura’s eyes widened in shock. “Wha- what sort of mission?”

“My mission was to discover where the Nine-Tail’s jinchuriki is. Find out where he went, whether he was truly on a mission or if he left the village on his own, and if he does have a mission I am to discover what that mission is.” Sai paused for a moment before continuing. “It was thought that this team, his team, was the most likely to hear from him.”

Sakura’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. They’d suspected Naruto was a jinchuriki, suspected he wasn’t on a real mission, but this! This was the closest to confirmation they’d ever had. And yet… why would Sai be assigned something like this? The Hokage had said Naruto was on a mission, surely she knew the answers already. 

“Who gave you this mission?” Sasuke interrupted Sakura’s thoughts, clearly he had come to a similar conclusion. 

Sai opened his mouth, but nothing came out. With a slight shrug he turned to Kakashi.

“His name- is Danzo,” he answered for Sai. “He is a militaristic hard-liner who once fought with the Sandaime over the Hokage position. He used to lead his own personal branch of Anbu, called Root. Root was later officially disbanded. Sai’s presence, however… “

Kakashi’s voice trailed off, and Sasuke and Sakura clearly understood what he was implying.

“What can you tell us about Danzo?” Sasuke’s eyes locked on to Sai.  _ We were right. Naruto is a Jinchuriki. And this guy… why was someone from our own village looking for Naruto?  _ Sure, he and the rest of the Konoha 12 were doing the same… but we’re Naruto’s friends. What’s Danzo want with Naruto?

“Nothing,” Sai replied, and gave one of his false smiles.

Sakura growled in frustration. “What do you mean, nothing? Why did you bother telling us anything in the first place? Is telling us part of your mission, then?”

“No, that’s not it. This actually isn’t part of my mission at all. I meant that I literally can’t talk about Danzo-sama. It’s because of this… ” Sai opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. Sasuke’s eyes widened at the sight of a strange seal, placed on the back of Sai’s tongue.

“If I try to talk about him, my whole body will be paralyzed and I’ll be unable to talk or move.” Sai calmly continued, as if the threat of paralysis was no big deal. “Every member of the Foundation has one.”

“The… Foundation?” Sakura hesitantly asked.

“Maa, that’s what Root is calling itself these days.” Kakashi again answered for his student.

“Why are you telling us this?”

“I- It- “ Sai uncharacteristically appeared to stutter. “I’ve come to realize that you and your friends were investigating Naruto’s disappearance as well.” He shifted uncomfortably. “It felt… wrong. Like I was using your friendship to complete my mission. I- I am not entirely certain why I feel this way.” His face grew puzzled as he spoke. 

Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder and gave an eye smile. “I’m proud of you, Sai. You’re finally learning what it means to have bonds.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! That was the last chapter before the timeskip, and I'm going to have fun with that.
> 
> Btw, I hope the fight with Hidan and Kakuzu wasn't too goofy. I got this image in my head of Killer Bee launching Hidan and just couldn't resist.


	8. Poker, Dancing, and Information Gathering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shikamaru hears an interesting rumor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I finished up an assignment today and felt like celebrating, so here - have another chapter. :)
> 
> This is the first chapter after a timeskip. How long? Well, here's the thing. I'm setting this right around the time in the anime where the Konoha/Suna chunin exams took place. Given differences in the storyline, it won't be exactly the same, but silly though I find most of the anime filler arcs to be, using it meant I didn't have to reinvent a whole lot of things.
> 
> That would put most of them around what... 15? A little young to my way of thinking, so if you want to pretend another year was there (or pretend they all graduated at 14 instead of 12, because really... would it make that much of a difference?) that's up to you. Since I'm also going with the 'child soldiers in deadly situations grow up fast' perspective, their more adult behavior may be in character for the Naruto world even though I wouldn't want teenagers in ours doing the same. 
> 
> So anyways, timeskip of a year or so, everyone's older and closer to their Shippuden personas in terms of strength and personality (except for Sasuke and Naruto, for obvious reasons), and interesting things are going to happen. :) 
> 
> One more thing - Kakashi's Sukea disguise proved that the ninja world understands such things as contact lenses, changing hair color, etc. It's pretty easy to change such things, and my version of these characters are not foolish enough to stick with colors too similar to their own.

_Timeskip: A few weeks before Konoha hosts their next Chunin Exams_

 

Shikamaru pondered the cards in his hand. A seven and a nine, not a very good combination, though at least they were both hearts. Still, the odds of getting three more hearts were not good. The flop hadn’t come yet, and he was the little blind this round. Which meant he had money in the pot already, and if he didn’t win soon he might see his money get whittled away just from the money he had to put in whenever he was the big or little blind. _How troublesome_.

As had become their custom, he was at a bar with some of his friends, enjoying a night out and keeping his ears open for items of interest. This was just one of many that the Konoha 12 frequented, not a bad spot to play Texas Hold ‘Em, and the occasional tidbit of intelligence was worth the risk of losing. The crowd was particular interesting right now, as the upcoming Chunin Exams drew in ninja outsiders. Too bad he was stuck running the exams this year. _What a pain._

He briefly debated bluffing. If he made a really large bid, most of the players would probably fold and he could at least recoup the loss of his ante. Unfortunately, all it would take is one person with a good hand - or someone stupid enough to stick it out despite poor cards - and then he’d be out even more money. He decided to match the big blind, wait it out and see what cards fell during the flop.

Decision made, he turned his attention back to the table conversation. Unfortunately, most of it involved the same old rumors and conspiracies he’d heard before.

“Don’t you find it weird,” a young ninja with brown hair was saying, “that all the jinchuriki seem to have disappeared?”

“Not all of them!” another, with green hair this time, protested. “The Eight-Tails is still in Cloud country, and the Two-Tails.”

“Yeah, but what about Sand? Mist? Stone? Something’s going on, and there’s those weird missing-nin going around looking for them. They’re nasty, give me shivers! What would a bunch of criminals like that want with jinchuriki, anyway? It can’t be anything good… “

Yeah, nothing new here. Of course people paid attention to jinchuriki. They were some of the most powerful beings on the planet, and villages had divided the Tailed Beasts in order to maintain the balance of power. Anything that changed that balance was worthy of concern, so it was no surprise that people noticed _something_ was going on. Unfortunately, nobody had any solid idea of what. Or why.

“Maybe they want to make new jinchuriki under their control. Imagine facing off against all of them at once.” Most of the ninjas at the table grimaced.

Shikamaru decided to throw out a small lure. “It’s hard to say when nobody knows where they disappeared to.”

Maybe he’d learn of a new sighting. Not that he could make heads or tails about the rumors so far. Sure, Team 7 had a confirmed encounter with the Stone jinchuriki - Killer Bee and Yugito Ni, they’d realized - but then there was the rumor of a giant fox and bug. They seemed to be fighting? Sparring? Doing something, from what the drunken merchant said, way out in the open sea, in sight of the merchant’s ship on one of his routes.

Was that a real sighting? If so, was it Naruto? A giant fox - nobody mentioned how many tails, though. But why would Naruto be out on the ocean? And was he capable of transforming into the Nine-Tailed Fox now? _Naruto_ . _What have you been doing all these years?_

“There is another possibility.” One of the other players joined in the conversation, speaking in a flat and monotone voice. Shikamaru glanced at the speaker - a young looking man with light blond hair, pale blue eyes, and a rather good poker face. Though he was in civilian clothes, something about how he held himself screamed ‘ninja’.

“Huh? What else would anyone want jinchuriki for?”

“The Tailed Beasts were originally one, the Ten-Tails,” the young ninja continued. Shikamaru wondered if he imagined the quick glance in his direction. “The Ten-Tails was split into the nine Tailed Beasts by the Sage of Six Paths. It is possible that if someone collected all the Tailed Beasts they could recreate the Ten-Tails.”

Shikamaru eyed the stranger with interest. This was... different. A Ten-Tailed Beast? It sounded truly monstrous.

“That’s an interesting tale. I’ve never heard about a Ten-Tailed Beast before.” He tried prompting the ninja to elaborate.

The shinobi gave him an impassive stare.

_It’s going to be hard to draw this one out. What a drag._

They played a few more rounds of poker before Shikamaru tried again, this time taking a different direction. “Where did you hear about the Sage of Six Paths?”

A pause as the ninja gave Shikamaru a penetrating stare. “It was… on a mission,” he finally replied.

Before Shikamaru could ask any more questions, a young woman pounced on the blonde shinobi, wrapping her arms around him.

“Hisoka! Come dance with me! We’re going to do a salsa!” The energetic young woman had a long braid of light brown hair and striking violet eyes. By the muscles in her arms and grace of her movements she was probably a kunoichi.

“Houtaru, I’m busy. Why don’t you ask Souta?”

“He’s already got a partner,” she pouted. “And I don’t think anyone else knows how. At least, not as well as you do.”

It was hard to tell since his face didn’t really move, but Hisoka gave the impression of fond exasperation.

“Very well, let me finish this round.”

“Yippee! It’ll be awesome, hurry up!”

Shikamaru glanced at the dance floor, which was slowly clearing. Not many people requested ballroom dances like the salsa anymore. To his surprise, another young man pulled a slightly blushing Hinata out onto the floor. Her partner had dark brown hair, pulled up in a ponytail much like Shikamaru’s, and large green markings on his cheeks. The markings were somewhat like Kiba’s, though more rectangular in shape. At a guess, that must be Souta. _Perhaps a genin team, here for the exams?_

Shikamaru found his curiosity piqued, so he cashed out and made his way to Chouji, Kiba, Shino and Ino.

“I can’t believe Hinata is dancing with him! I mean, he _is_ a cutie, but… Hinata!” Ino looked rather proud of her friend.

“I know! She hasn’t shown such interest in a boy since… “ Kiba’s voice trailed off before he finished the sentence. While time had softened the ache, they still felt a hole where their former classmate ought to be.

“They’re an interesting group,” Shikamaru commented.

Shino raised an eyebrow. “You learned something. Why? Because you don’t normally show such interest in another team.”

“The blonde, Hisoka, made an interesting comment during our poker game. Said something about a Ten-Tailed Beast.”

“What do you want us to do?” Typical Chouji. His unwavering faith and support in Shikamaru was comforting.

“Spend a bit of time with them. Draw them in.” Shikamaru shrugged. “See what else they know.”

“Wow, I didn’t know Hinata could dance like that!” Ino was staring at the dance floor. Shikamaru could see why - Hinata flowed across the floor with a liquid grace, with each step she swayed gracefully, in perfect time to the music. Her partner clearly knew what he was doing as he led her through a series of spins and turns. The brown-haired ninja gave her a wide grin as he led her through a perfectly timed slide through his legs. Ino had stars in her eyes, and Shikamaru sighed. _Now she’s going to expect us to do that!_

He glanced at Hisoka, the blonde that first caught his interest. Hisoka was apparently just as skilled as his teammate, leading Houtaru through their own set of spins, twists, and turns. Somehow Hisoka’s straight-backed and almost stoic movements were the perfect counterpoint to his partner’s more energetic spins and twists.

“They’re really good, aren’t they?” Chouji seemed almost sad, he never really danced when they went out. He was too self-conscious, and generally took on more of a guardian role. He was always ready to provide support if anyone got too pushy with the girls, not that they needed it. They were ninjas, after all. It’s just that pushy boys took one look at Chouji and generally backed down, whereas the girls all too often had to prove they were capable of beating whoever their current pest was first.

As the music finished, Souta led Hinata into a smooth backdip, her long hair touching the ground. She was flushed and glowing as he escorted her off the floor and towards her friends.

“You dance really well,” Souta’s praise seemed to fluster Hinata even more. “Thank you for agreeing to be my partner,” he continued, brown eyes sparkling. When they reached Hinata’s friends, he let go of her hand and made to leave.

“Hey, hey! Sit down and have a beer,” Kiba patted a nearby barstool. Souta hesitated just slightly before taking a seat. “What’s your name, where are you from? How long are you going to be in Konoha?”

Souta gave an amused laugh and took the offered beer. “My name is Souta, my genin team is here for the Chunin Exams.” He nodded to Houtaru and Hisoka, who had followed him over. “We’re from the Hidden Moon village.”

Talk soon turned into a lively discussion of typical ninja experiences - missions they’d been on, difficult clients, and the interesting places their missions took them. Kiba and Souta seemed to get into a bit of a competition over who had the worst clients - trying to top stories of sick clients, overly amorous ones, and livestock that kept escaping. Any ninja that had been active for more than a couple of months had their fair share of client horror stories, and the Moon ninjas were good at telling theirs.

As the night wore on, Shikamaru was surprised to see Shino showing off his kikaichu to Houtaru. Most girls were creeped out by the Aburame bugs, and it was rare for one to show such active interest. Shikamaru settled back to enjoy the evening,still keeping an eye out for any chance to subtly turn the conversation back to jinchuriki. He was especially interested in learning where they’d heard about this Ten-Tailed Beast.

He was feeling rather mellow, and slightly intoxicated, when he ended up at the bar next to Souta and Hisoka. “I’m curious about the Sage of Six Paths. So much of what we know has become myth and legend. I was wondering if I could find the man who told you about the Ten-Tailed Beast. You said you heard about it on a mission?”

For a second, Souta’s cheerful expression faltered and he gave Hisoka an unreadable look. “Ah, yes. That… mission.” Shikamaru eyes sharpened with interest. They were hiding something. _Interesting_.

Souta continued, “We were escorting this elderly man with a fascination for strange stories and legends. He said he’d had a strange encounter with a pale, white-haired shinobi who claimed he was descended from the Sage’s brother. He was trying to write a book on myths and legends or something.”

“Do you think he’s published it yet?” Shikamaru was fairly certain they were lying, though he didn’t know why. Or about which parts.

Souta shrugged. “We never really saw him again.”

Suddenly, Kiba appeared and grabbed Souta. “Hey Shikamaru! Sorry to interrupt, I need to borrow Souta here. It’s for Hinata! See ya!” He gave a cheery wave as he threw Souta over his shoulder and disappeared.

“Kiibaaaaa!!!” Souta’s yell quickly faded.

Hisoka gave off an amused air. “Your friend stole my teammate.”

Shino and Houtaru approached, Shino’s arm around Houtaru’s waist. “We are leaving now.” Shino calmly stated. “Houtaru has expressed interest in seeing my clan’s hives.”

Shikamaru raised a brow. Shino is showing off his clan hives. At night. Well, whatever. They’re considered adult shinobi by now and it was none of his business. And he had suggested drawing the Moon ninjas in.

“And now your friends have stolen my other teammate.” Hisoka stated without inflection. Shikamaru took a look around the bar. Ino was making her way towards them. Chouji had his arm wrapped around a cute brunette. The Akimichi may not be conventionally attractive, but there were always a few people who appreciated their teddy bear-like qualities and loyal steadfastness. Chouji caught his eye and gave a cheery wave as they left the bar.

Ino joined them at the bar. “Well, things here are winding down. What do you want to do now?”

“My teammates are busy elsewhere,” Hisoka commented. “I do not have anything planned for myself.”

Ino glanced at Shikamaru, an unspoken question in her eyes. “You have a hotel room, right?” Shikamaru asked. At Hisoka’s nod he continued, “How do you feel about playing a little shogi?”

Ino’s smile was slightly predatory “Do it! It’ll be… fun.”

 

********************************

 

“The Moon shinobi are training in this direction” Kiba called back as he followed a trail through Konoha. Teams 7 and Gui had made it back to the village in time for their semi-weekly meeting earlier today. At the meeting, Shikamaru mentioned the Moon team and their story of the Ten-Tailed Beast. Teams 8 and 10 also went over their impressions of the young team. Nothing in particular stood out, though Shikamaru couldn’t shake the sense that something was off about the team. They didn’t feel like a threat, so much as though they were hiding something. Still, he couldn’t explain why he got that impression. The only thing that really stood  out was that Shino said his kikaichu had a strange reaction to Houtaru. After some discussion, they decided to invite their new friends to dinner - and maybe karaoke - later that week. Kiba volunteered to help track them down, and Shikamaru came along. He wanted as many chances to solve the puzzle they presented as he could get.

“Wind Release” a vaguely familiar voice cried out. That sounded like Souta.

“You’ll have to do better than that!” The feminine reply had to be Houtaru, probably sparring with her teammates.

“Take a break, we appear to have guests.” Hisoka quietly commanded. By the time Shikamaru reached their training ground, the Moon ninjas had stopped and were facing their direction.

“Hey guys!” Kiba cheerily greeted them. “Just wanted to invite you to dinner tomorrow. You can meet the rest of the Konoha 12, or 13, or whatever.”

Hisoka and Houtaru gave Souta a questioning glance. Shikamaru’s eyes sharpened - was he the one who decided these things?

“The Konoha 12?” Souta seemed bemused.

“Yeah, well, it started with nine of us.” Kiba explained. “We all were in the same class at the Academy. Then we met Team Gai during our first attempt at the Chunin exams, so that made 12.”

“But you said it could be 13?”

Kiba gave a sheepish laugh. “Well, one of our guys is out on some sort of long-term mission. Hasn’t been here in a while. Someone else was put on a team in his place, so it’s 12 or 13 depending on who you count.”

For just a second, Shikamaru caught a strange expression on Souta’s face. Then he smiled, and Shikamaru wondered if he’d imagined it.

“Sure, we’d love to join you! Where and when?”

“Yakiniku Q, they’ve got really good barbecue. Meet us there tomorrow, 6 o-clock.”

Hisoka gave a slight nod, and Houtaru beamed.

“Sounds good, we’ll see you then!”


	9. Ain't No Sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comaraderie, food, and karaoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm going to write a fairly long author's note at the end, mostly so that you all can skip it if it doesn't catch your interest. (I kind of don't like long ones at the beginning.) Some of it won't even really be related to the fic.
> 
> Key points, then, are this:
> 
> I debated putting this chapter in, because it doesn't really advance the plot much. However the scene has sort of been stuck in my head and it's my fic, so Imma gonna write it. I'll throw in the next chapter so that you see the plot advance a little more.
> 
> I refer to a song in this chapter, if you want to listen to it you can check out this link - https://youtu.be/tIdIqbv7SPo  
> Or, for the same song sung by a woman, this one - https://youtu.be/ccmXWBluxIc
> 
> Also, the short version of some of the end notes: If you're a US citizen and you're eligible to vote in the midterms this Tuesday, do it! Democracy is an amazing thing, but it only works if we do our parts, so make sure you get out and vote.

As usual, Team 10 was the first to arrive at the barbecue joint, and Chouji placed a large order to get their food started. The Moon ninjas arrived soon after, running into Team 8 along the way. As they settled in Kiba made sure that Souta sat next to Hinata while Houtaru took the seat next to Shino.

“So… Who else is going to be here?” Houtaru asked.

“Team Gui and Team 7.” Ino loved getting large groups together. “You haven’t met them yet, but they’re pretty cool. Team Gui specializes in taijutsu. That’s Neji, Tenten, and Lee. You’ll have to excuse Lee, he can be a bit… enthusiastic.”

“Then there’s Team 7” she continued. “Team 7 is… different.”

“Different?” Hisoka repeated.

“Yeah. They… “ Ino paused, trying to think about how to explain them.

“Team 7 is the one who’s original team member is away on a mission. The original two took it hard. Sakura’s not so bad, she’s very focused on becoming a medic-nin now,” Kiba chimed in. “But their newest member, Sai, is just odd. He won’t mean to offend you. I think. And Sasuke… “ his voice trailed off for a moment. He remembered the last time he’d had a rough mission. They had been tracking some stolen children, and didn’t get there in time. It had felt like a personal failure, and really brought him down for a while. Sasuke had noticed, and practically interrogated Kiba in his own awkward and gruff  way. Really, it came across more as an interrogation than anything else. Plus, Kiba had noticed Sasuke’s smell in a few odd places, a lingering sign that the standoffish ninja had been keeping an eye on him. Kiba hadn’t known what to make of it. It had been… surprising. Kind of nice in an awkward way, he guessed, as a sign that Sasuke was concerned about him. He’d noticed that Sasuke acted in a similar way towards the others, so he supposed it just meant Sasuke cared or something. Not that you could tell otherwise.

“Eh, well. Just try not to be offended. And don’t call him a bastard! You can call him an asshole, or rude, just don’t say ‘bastard’.”

The Moon ninjas looked confused.

“What a beautiful demonstration of the Springtime of Youth! It’s so great to meet new ninjas!” Lee’s enthusiastic cry filled the restaurant. 

“And that would be Team Gai.” Shikamaru wryly smiled. Neji and Tenten looked slightly exasperated as they were dragged in their teammate’s wake.

Team 7 arrived shortly after, Sakura cheerily greeting everyone while Sai looked awkwardly around. After his confession about the reason he had been assigned to Team 7, the Konoha 12 agreed not to invite him to their discussions on jinchuriki and Akatsuki, but he was welcome to join them for dinner and now did so on a regular basis. He’d also started reading books on social interaction, though his attempts at making friends were oddly endearing. Of course, they’d quickly taught him not to even try giving out nicknames to the people he met. One attempt at calling Choji ‘fat’ had been enough. 

Team 7 took their own seats, Sasuke quietly taking a spot next to Shikamaru where he was least likely to be bothered. He looked at their guests, Souta in particular, and frowned. They were too… bright. That lively energy, that cheerful willingness to chat about anything… He didn’t like this new team. He didn’t like Souta in particular. 

Souta flashed a bright smile, and Sasuke winced. The hair. The eyes. It was all wrong. And green cheek markings.  _ Not whiskers _ something whispered in the back of his mind _. _

No, there wasn’t any connection between the Land of the Moon and jinchuriki, other than that story Shikamaru  had told them about. Not that he was aware of, at least.  _ A Ten-Tailed Beast? One with all the power of the nine Tailed Beasts, combined? _ He remembered their encounter with the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails, and shivered slightly. 

No, no connection at all. And as for Souta, what’s one more happy fool? He’ll just avoid this one, the Moon team was only in town until the end of the Chunin exams, after all. Hinata brushed up against Souta’s side, and Sasuke felt a pang of… something. Well, no matter. These guys would be gone soon enough.

“So, what do you think the Chunin Exams will be like?” asked Houtaru, practically bouncing in her seat. Sasuke glanced at the boisterous girl. How can there be two such happy-go-lucky ninjas on the same team?

“Well, we don’t know for sure. Shikamaru over there is being stingy with details!” Kiba complained.

“Shikamaru?” Hisoka glanced at the mentioned shinobi. “What does he have to do with the exams?”

“He’s running them this year!” Lee exclaimed. “He’s already a chunin!”

“But he won’t tell us what he’s planning,” Ino interrupted. “Not even a hint for his friends.”

“Yeah, but we know that Shikamaru is planning it, so it won’t be too unreasonable. Though it will definitely be challenging.” Chouji added.

“I’m just glad we don’t have to take them again.” Tenten added.

“Yeah, you’re lucky Konoha decided to send you to Mist for their chunin exams. I wish we could have gone,” Kiba complained.

The conversation continued in that vein for a while, and Sasuke sat back to watch. This new team fit in with the Konoha 12 surprisingly well. It wasn’t long before dinner was over, and Kiba suggested continuing the festivities with karaoke. Ino, Houtaru, Souta, and Lee enthusiastically agreed.

As Sasuke let himself get dragged along, he somehow ended up next to Shikamaru and Hisoka. 

“Your teammates are very… energetic,” Shikamaru commented.

Hisoka nodded. “Our jounin-sensei once said that they ‘get along like a house on fire.’ It seemed an- apt description.”

“I don’t envy you. One teammate like that is bad enough. Two?” Shikamaru shuddered. “That’s troublesome.”

Hisoka gave the impression he was somehow amused. “They tend to grow on you, in their own way.”

Kiba and Souta found a table large enough for their group and quickly laid claim to it. Houtaru and Lee started flipping through the songbooks, looking for ideas on what to sing.

“Hmmmmm, what to pick… what to pick.” Houtaru muttered as she flipped through the pages.

“Whatever you pick, I’m sure it will be very youthful!” Lee pumped his fist in the air. 

“Yeah, well. It’s karaoke. There’s always the usual crowd pleasers. You know, the songs that get everyone singing along… “

“We don’t want every song to be like that, though.” Ino chimed in. “They can be fun, sure. But sometimes it’s nice to have something sad or sweet.”

“Heh. If you want something sad or sweet, I know the perfect song!” Houtaru flipped through to a specific page. “Oh good, they have it.” 

“Yosh! I too will find a sad song to sing! I will move everyone to tears or I will run around Konoha 100 times on my hands!” 

Tenten sighed. Her teammate was all too predictable. 

Shino and Choji ordered a couple of pitchers of beer for the table and everyone settled in.

Sakura winced as a particularly bad singer assaulted her ears. “Did we have to do karaoke?”

“Oh come on, Sakura! Karaoke is fun! You never know what talent might be revealed. Come on, do a song with me.” Ino gave her friend a challenging grin.

Teasing and joking continued as various ninjas made their selections. They cheered enthusiastically when it was Lee’s turn, even though Lee sang with more enthusiasm than talent. Or rather, his enthusiasm turned what was supposed to be a sad song into a rather more… youthful one.

Finally, it was Houtaru’s turn. The table quieted as she made her way to the microphone. Slow, quiet music began and she opened her mouth to sing.

 

> _ Ain't no sunshine when he's gone _
> 
> _ It's not warm when he's away _
> 
> _ Ain't no sunshine when he's gone _
> 
> _ And he's always gone too long _
> 
> _ Anytime he goes away _

 

Her voice was smooth and low, and surprisingly good. Sasuke’s face turned to stone as the music washed over him. He felt as though the words were washing over him, pouring over and through him until he was drowning, streaming past his defenses. It had been years, and most of the time he was… okay. Training hard, getting stronger. But this? This?

 

> _ Wonder this time where he's gone _
> 
> _ Wonder if he's gone to stay _
> 
> _ Ain't no sunshine when he's gone _
> 
> _ And this house just ain't no home _
> 
> _ Anytime he goes away _

 

The music seemed to put into words things he’d never been able to say. Never admitted he felt, even to himself. It brought everything out in a way that was raw and rough, and he’d worked so hard to bury it all, dammit!

The rest of the Konoha 12 seemed stunned, as well. Hinata in particular. Souta and Hisoka had puzzled expressions on their faces as they noticed the sudden shift in mood. It seemed to affect the entire bar, and when Houtaru finished she was met with silence.

“Yosh!” Lee jumped to his feet and cheered. “That was truly a youthful display Houtaru!” The moment broke, and the audience began to clap.

“I can’t stay, I have training tomorrow.” Sasuke gave a weak excuse and quickly escaped.

“Wha- what’s wrong?” Souta asked. 

“No-nothing. “ Hinata nervously raised her hand to her lips. “It was a good song, and she sang it well. It just… “

“It reminded us of someone.” Choji explained. “We haven’t seen him in a while.”

“I wonder where Naruto is,” Ino glumly sighed. “It’s been years.”

“I hope, wherever he is, he’s doing well.” Sakura quietly added. Now that they knew the Akatsuki were after jinchuriki, she was plagued by fears that Naruto had been caught and the Nine-Tails extracted. That somewhere, Naruto was lying dead, and nobody knew. How could they know? He’d been gone for so long...

Souta had an unreadable expression on his face.

“If he’s a good friend” Houtaru looked hesitant “he probably misses you guys as well. And he’d want you to be happy.”

Souta nodded. “Yeah, what Houtaru said. Wherever he is, I’m sure he would want you to laugh and, and - live well.” He ended somewhat awkwardly.

Shino gave a small nod. 

Lee raised a glass of beer “To youthful comrades!”

“To youthful comrades” the others raised their own glasses in response, eyes gleaming with fond amusement, and the moment passed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how writing goes for most people. I've been a long time reader, but (as I've mentioned before) this is my first time really writing a fanfiction. Or writing for fun, in general. 
> 
> Sure, there's been times I've read something and thought 'I could do better than that', and I've had occasional plot bunnies that came and went, much like tattoo ideas. But I've mostly left the writing to my long term friends (I've known Braincoins for over a decade now. Hell, more like two decades, wow! She's always been writing something, though most recently it's Voltron fics. Sort of similar story with Jade4813, though she's more into Smallville and The Flash. I've been to both their weddings, you know.) 
> 
> Anyways, despite being on the peripheries of fandom and fan writing, it wasn't really my thing. Sure, I love Harry Potter. Never really got the urge to check out fanfics for it. Or Lord of the Rings. Or even Bleach. 
> 
> I'd watched the first part of Naruto a long, long time ago, got busy with life and whatnot and sort of forgot about it. Then last spring I decided to finally check out Naruto again, skipping most of the filler, and the show put it's claws in me and never let go. I finished it, didn't feel I had enough, went on and watched Boruto (problematic though the show can be), went back and rewatched some of my favorite bits of the original show, started reading fanfics, went on another binge, and... well. Some of you may know how that goes.
> 
> This plot has been a bit like tattoo ideas, for me. I know that sounds weird, I promise to explain. :) See, I see an occasional tattoo or get an idea that sounds neat, but an hour or so later I generally have forgotten it and moved on. It didn't really stick. Others, however, do. And when I've got the same image stuck in my head, repeatedly, then maybe it's time to actually get it permanently inked on my skin. 
> 
> I've had parts of this story stuck in my head for a while now. I sort of hoped not to actually write it, to find someone else's fic that was close enough to what I wanted that I wouldn't have to do the work, but that didn't work. My first chapter was one of those, a scenario I'd run through my head with a few variations here and there. The previous chapter was another. The 'big reveal' I mentioned in the comments is one, too. 
> 
> I've had most of this plotted out for a while. I brainstormed a little with Iriidescent03 on a few things and the ending will be a bit different, but I'm rather pleased with those changes and hope you all enjoy them, too. The hard part, for me at least, isn't plot so much as getting into the nitty gritty. Setting the scene, creating dialogue, deciding what the step-by-step actions are during a fight. 
> 
> So anyways. I'm back in school, and I've figured out some of the ways I learn best. Oftentimes by mixing things up. So, you know, I read up about EIGRP or PPP and then pause to write a bit or check out some fanfics or something. Then take a quiz on wireless sniffing or something, and skip to something else. Then work a bit on one of my programming projects, and if that doesn't suck me in for the rest of the day then I'll take a break and do something else.
> 
> I don't feel like I've been working ferociously on this story. I may not touch it for a day or two, especially if it's a difficult bit and I want to rewatch an episode or read the manga or something to get a better feel for the characters and how they act. 
> 
> But somehow, despite working on this intermittently, I have about 45 more pages of material written out. It just needs a final review, a bit of touch up, and it's ready to go.
> 
> I sort of like having five or so chapters in my back pocket. It means I feel comfortable ignoring the story for a day or two, 'cause I know I've got plenty lined up. But I'm so far ahead of what I've posted so far that it's kind of ridiculous.
> 
> I do like tying my posts in with events (Halloween, Naruto's birthday, whatever), so I figure I'll post a chapter a day up to and including election day this Tuesday. Plus two chapters today, since this one is pretty much an exercise in self-indulgence. 
> 
> Which brings me to my non-fandom related rant:
> 
> VOTE!!! If you're a US citizen and you're eligible, please, please, please vote. 
> 
> I don't think I have enough space left to go into this in great detail, I'll probably continue it at the end of the next chapter, but in a democracy if we don't like the government we have, it's on us to do our part to change it. Unfortunately, most people get hyped up about presidential elections and forget to vote in midterms. They're even less likely to vote in primaries. 
> 
> Which means key decisions are made by the small portion of our population politically engaged enough to do so - mostly meaning the people on the political extremes.


	10. Three Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first stage of the new Chunin Exams.

The day of the Chunin exams dawned bright and clear as genin teams throughout Konoha made their way to the testing site. Team 7 chose to meet at their usual training ground and walk to the exams together. Sasuke gave Sai a small nod upon arrival - over the years they had come to an understanding of sorts, and developed a mutual respect for each other’s skills. 

Sakura gave sad smile as she joined them. “The Chunin Exams. It brings back memories.” 

She’d grown fond of the current Team 7, but they were - different. She couldn’t help feeling slightly nostalgic for their original team. She had been so happy, back then. Full of hope. Then came their first attempt at Chunin, and Orochimaru, and the Sand/Sound invasion. 

And then Naruto disappeared. 

The Chunin Exams brought up all sorts of memories, good and bad. She wasn’t as young and innocent now, but she did feel much better prepared.  _ And a Sannin had better not attack us this time. Shannaro!  _

Sasuke grunted an acknowledgement, and they began moving out.

“Yo!” Kakashi dropped in before they got very far. “Just wanted to wish you guys luck. Have fun at the chunin exams!” His eye crinkled up in a smile.

Sakura covered up her fondness with an exasperated sigh. “Were more than ready, sensei.” Sai and Sasuke gave small nods of agreement, and Team 7 continued making their way to the testing site.

Izumo and Kotetsu made a familiar sight at the check in table, where Izumo took their registration forms and Kotetsu held out a small bucket. There were three wide sticks standing out and he told them to each pick one. When they pulled theirs out they realized each was holding a sign with a number on it. Sasuke’s said ‘1’, Sai had ‘2’, and Sakura had ‘3’.

“That’s your room number,” Kotetsu explained. “Give the signs back and go to your assigned room.”

“They’re splitting us up?” Sakura wondered aloud. She wasn’t sure what Shikamaru was planning, but whatever it was she hadn’t expected to be separated from her team. Oh, well. There was only one way to find out.

She entered room 3 and took a seat. She was one of the first ninjas to arrive, and she didn’t recognize anyone else at first. She was initially surprised to realize that there were a lot of Sand ninjas present, but on further thought it made sense. The Sand village had been recovering from the same invasion Konoha had, and been unable to participate in the other genin exams. Now that Temari was Kazekage, she probably was trying to clear out a backlog of promotions. Unfortunately, that also meant there were a lot more genin teams competing than normal and the odds were high that they'd have to do a preliminary exam before the third stage. Again. 

“Hisoka!” she recognized the Moon shinobi as he entered and waved him over. “I see you found the exam site alright.”

Hisoka took a seat next to her. “Yes. Team 8 and 10 weren’t too far behind us in line. Or rather, Ino and Choji were there. I didn’t recognize their third member.”

“Oh, right. They’re teammate is already a chunin, so they had to find a third ninja before they could enter. I’m not sure who it is, though.”

“Oi, Sakura!” Kiba took a seat on Sakura’s other side, Akamaru by his side as always. “I bet we do better than you.”

“No way!” Sakura replied. “Team 7 is going to rock these exams.”

Further banter ended when the door suddenly closed and the speakers turned on. Sakura recognized Shikamaru’s voice as he explained the rules. Each of them was supposed to pick one of three questions to answer. None of the three questions were too hard, for her at least, but each was worth a different number of points - 30, 40 or 50. As a team, they couldn’t get a score higher than 100 - but if they scored too low they wouldn’t pass the test at all. That meant they needed to get a score of exactly 100 to have the best chance of passing. 

Sakura winced as the difficulty of the task dawned on her, and the entire room burst into noise as everyone else came to the same realization. How were they supposed to pass when their teammates were in a completely different room? She had no idea what Sasuke or Sai would choose, and it didn’t help that they were on a time limit.

She took a deep breath. First she needed to figure out what the winning combinations were. Then she could try to figure out which ones her teammates would pick.

She went up to the chalkboard and started writing out the options. Really, there were only two. They either needed two 50 pts and a zero, or two 30 pts and the 40. Anything else would probably be too low or too high. 

She tried to breathe through her frustration as the difficulty of the task sank in.  _ What would Sasuke and Sai do? _ Kiba seemed just as lost as she was. Hisoka, on the other hand, was calmly sitting at his spot.  _ Did he know his teammates that well? Or have some way of communicating with them? _ She shook away the distraction and went back to the task at hand.

 

********************************

 

Sai discovered that the rooms were sealed, and he was unable to send any of his ink beasts out of the room. A small buzzing sound drew his attention, one of Shino’s bugs clearly failing to leave the room and making its way back to the Aburame. If Shino couldn’t get a kikaichu out, there was little hope he could slip one of his beasts out. There wasn’t much he could do except wait, and trust in his teammates. It still seemed - odd - to do so. 

 

********************************

 

Hinata and Chouji had learned long ago to see past Sasuke’s standoffish demeanour, and had taken the seats next to him. Sasuke noticed Souta sitting by Hinata’s other side chattering away, and promptly ignored the Moon shinobi. He was- too bright. Too loud.  Too much like a blonde-haired idiot he used to know.

He went back to thinking about the test, the fiendishly clever setup was pure Shikamaru, through and through. Such a challenge was particularly difficult for Team 7, since they didn’t have any way of communicating across distances. Maybe Sai could manage something with his ink jutsu?

Sasuke shook such thoughts away, he couldn’t do much about that unless Sai succeeded at sending a message. For now, he had to assume he wouldn’t get any help. 

 

********************************

 

As the timer ticked down, tensions grew higher. Someone even tried yelling loud enough to be heard in the other rooms, but that just set everyone off. Sakura winced at the cacophony. If only there was some way to communicate to the others.

Then she got an idea, she knew that if she could get a number to Sai and Sasuke - any number: 3, 4 or 5 - they’d be able to figure out what it meant and pick their response accordingly. If it was 3, it meant they should pick the 30 point question and she’d do the 40. If it was 4, they’d know she was doing the 40 point question and they should do the 30. And if it was 5, they’d know to pick the 50 point question and she’d pick 0. 

She just needed a way of sending a number, any of them.

“Hey guys, I’ve got an idea that would let us all pass.” Once she had their full attention, she explained what she wanted to do.

“Okay, but how do you plan on sending a signal?” a grass ninja with dark slicked back hair asked.

“Like this,” Sakura said. She walked up to the wall, concentrated her chakra, and made four strong strikes against the wall. Doing it so quickly meant nobody else had a chance to interfere with her plan. Even if they sent a second signal, later, all anyone had to do was use the first one sent and they’d all know what to do.

Although a few ninjas seemed put out - the ones that probably had some method of communicating to their teammates, Sakura noted - the majority seemed relieved. Everyone seemed to relax as they put down their answers. Before Sakura could do the same, Shikamaru’s voice came over the speaker and announced a bonus question - they were supposed to pick a team member to act as a decoy. All three teammates had to pick the same person, and whoever that person was would be disqualified. She sighed as she stared at her paper.

_ Who should I pick? Sai? Sasuke? _ She winced. Neither answer seemed right. How could she possibly leave either of them behind? It was like the bell test all over again.  _ Wait a minute - look underneath the underneath, right? _ Nodding to herself she put ‘nobody’ on the paper.

 

********************************

 

Sai stared at the paper. Who would be the logical person to leave behind? In the right circumstances, it would probably be him. After all, he could use the Super Beast technique to handle any enemies, and even send messages to the rest of the team when he was done. But would Sakura and Sasuke agree? His pen was just touching the test sheet when he stopped, frowning slightly in thought.  _ Those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash _ . 

No, Kakashi’s students would never agree. Which meant the answer was- 

 

********************************

 

Sasuke was staring at his test so intently that he should have burned a hole through it. Who should be the decoy? Two years ago he’d have been torn between Sakura and Naruto. Actually, he’d probably have picked Naruto, since Sakura wouldn’t have been able to hold anybody off long enough to do the job. But that was two years ago. He’d changed, at least a little bit, since then.  They all had. Sakura had grown into a powerful ninja, and his other teammate wasn’t Naruto. He still got a pang whenever he thought of his - friend. Yes, he’d come to accept that they had been friends, at least on his part. He didn’t know if Naruto thought the same, wasn’t sure if he’d ever know. 

Sai would probably agree to be a decoy, he had this thing about following orders and never seemed to care if they were suicidal or not. But…

_ Those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. _

 

********************************

 

Sakura gave a bright grin as she met Sasuke and Sai outside. They had passed the test, and given that all three of them were together they must have all put down the same answer to the bonus question. “First stage, done!” 

Sai gave an awkward smile in response, and Sasuke nodded. 

Shikamaru stood up and drew everyone’s attention. “Congratulations, all of you passed the written exam. Now, in order to proceed to the second stage you must have a three-man team.” 

A few ninjas grew angry at the announcement, but before they could cause any trouble Shikamaru continued. “The correct answer to the bonus question was “Nobody”. A blank sheet was acceptable, as well. Those of you who selected a team member can not continue to the next stage and should step aside. For the rest of you,” he waved to someone in the rear.

“Yosh!” an enthusiastic cry rang out. “I am Rock Lee, and I will lead you to the second stage. Follow me!” the green clad ninja jumped up in enthusiasm and ran off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to say a little bit more on the importance of voting.
> 
> We, in our society at least, have this annoying tendency to focus on charismatic individuals and forget about the whole system/structure/organization supporting them. Rambo, no matter how capable, can not hoe defeat an entire army by himself.
> 
> So we focus on Pablo Escobar and fail to take down the entire drug cartel, on Osama bin Laden and fail to take down the entire network. Or we focus on a particular president, and fail to take note of the entire system behind them.
> 
> Congress makes the laws. Not the president. The president can veto a law (and if there's enough support that veto could be overturned), and generally speaking the party of the sitting president sees him as their leader and try to support his agenda, but it's still Congress that makes the law.
> 
> Everyone and their mother tends to come out for presidential elections, less so for midterms. And even fewer vote in the primaries. 
> 
> That means that midterms are often decided by the more politically active, which generally means the extreme left or right. 
> 
> And if you're sick and tired of voting for the lesser of two evils, you need to vote in the primaries. That's when the parties choose their candidates, and if only the extremes vote then they'll select the candidate that panders to that base... and does not represent the vast majority of people who are closer to the middle politically. If you don't vote in the primaries, by the time the general election rolls around you're forced to choose between the two candidates other people have selected for you.
> 
> Now, each state has slightly different laws so you have to look up the ones relevant to you. They have different rules about when you must register to vote (some let you register all the way up to election day, others not so much) and whether you have to declare a party to vote in the primaries, and so on and so forth. Really, our system is a pain and sometimes I envy Germany or New Zealand for their mixed member proportional representation.
> 
> Oh, and as an FYI - Uber is apparently offering $10 off a single ride to the polls on election day. https://www.uber.com/newsroom/update-uber-drives-vote/
> 
> So, like, voting is super important. If you don't vote you're at the mercy of those who do, and you may not always like what they come up with. This is your chance to have a say in what happens, something people fought long and hard for.
> 
> Don't squander it.


	11. Ink Clones Are Handy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 and the second exam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hey, I needed a break from yelling at my computer about how I'm supposed to crack some hashes for something or other, and decided to polish up another chapter and send it off.
> 
> I can't remember, in my long spiel yesterday, if I got around to saying I'd post a chapter a day until the elections are over? And again (because it bears repeating) - if you're eligible to vote in the upcoming elections, make sure you do so!

Sakura gasped in shock as Lee rapidly disappeared from view, then her brain kicked in and she grabbed her teammates. “Come on, hurry! You know how fast Lee is!” 

Soon all the remaining candidates were running pell mell behind the green-clad ninja, and Lee was definitely making it a challenge. Sakura wished she knew where they were going so they could maybe find a shortcut or two, but she couldn’t figure out where Lee was taking them. He would take odd turns, or jump up on a roof only to go back down a second later. Soon, the genin were panting for breath, a few teams already falling behind.

Lee kept getting farther and farther ahead, staying just barely in sight. Barely.

Suddenly, Sasuke grabbed his teammates and pulled them aside. “Sasuke?!?” Sakura looked at him in bewilderment.

“That’s not Lee.”

“You’re right,” Sai spoke up. 

“It’s not?”

“No, it’s a clone.”

“But Lee can’t do clones!”

“He must have had someone help him.” Sasuke’s voice hardened. “We need to find the real one.” The fallout from their previous exams had made it impossible to become a chunin any sooner, but Sasuke was determined not to wait any longer. He still needed to kill Itachi, and now he had to worry about Akatsuki and Naruto as well.

Sai pulled out one of his scrolls and quickly drew two birds. “Super Beast Jutsu,” he invoked his signature technique and the ink birds came to life. The birds flew into the air and started circling in a search pattern. A few minutes later, one of the birds dove down towards Team 7 and circled over their heads before heading to their left.

As one, Team 7 turned to follow the bird.

They managed to catch up just as Lee headed into a familiar clearing next to Training Ground 44 - the Forest of Death. Sakura’s throat tightened as she remembered the last time she’d been there.  _ There won’t be Orochimaru this time. There won’t. _

“Yosh!” Lee pumped his fist in the air. “Congratulations! You all have youthfully followed me and made it to the site of the second stage! I now turn you over to Tenten, who will explain the next test!”

The trick with Lee’s clone seemed to have fooled quite a few other teams, and Sakura was pleased to see that Team 8, Team 10, and even the Moon ninjas had all made it.

Tenten made a slight face at Lee before stepping to the front. “Welcome to the second stage. For this test, you will enter the Forest of Death. You have four days to retrieve a scroll from the center of the forest and bring it back.”

“You will each start at a different gate, and succeed when you return to a gate with a scroll.

“At each gate there will be a seal that you must press to signal that you’re finished. There are only enough scrolls for half of you to succeed, so expect to fight other teams during the mission.

“This test must be completed as a team. If any of your members die or are incapacitated, you fail. You may not open the scrolls at any time. If you do, you fail.

“I need you all to sign a waiver before you can enter the forest. The forest is deadly in and of itself, in addition to the danger from other teams.”

Lee passed out waivers while Tenten explained the second stage. It didn’t take long before all the paperwork was signed and Team 7 was standing in front of their gate. 

Sai pulled out an inkbrush and scroll while they waited and began to paint. As soon as the proctor opened the gate, they rushed through and headed quickly towards the center, keeping an eye out for a small clearing. When they reached one, with an unspoken signal Team 7 stopped and Sai released a large ink bird.

Team 7 climbed aboard the bird and flew towards their destination. Sakura couldn’t help contrasting how much easier this was than last time. She’d rather fly over the forest than walk through it any day, too bad they couldn’t do the same on the way back. They’d all agreed that flying was too visible, and that the risk of someone attacking on the way in wasn’t that great but they’d only make a big target of themselves if they tried flying back. She looked down at the forest below. It looked so… peaceful. From the air you would never guess how many murderous and poisonous creatures were roaming below, and that’s not counting the genin teams currently taking the exams.

A little while later the bird banked, arrowing in on a clearing near the tower. Team 7 landed, Sai dispelled the bird, and they quickly moved to a new location before surveying their target. 

Sai pulled out another scroll and created a few ink mice to go scout out the tower, then Team 7 patiently waited for them to report back. It’s times like this that Sakura appreciated Sai’s skills, and the sheer variety of tactics his ink techniques offered. Scouting, messaging, fighting - his jutsu was very versatile. Still, much though she appreciated his scouting techniques, they did involve quite a bit of waiting around. She took the opportunity to eat and drink some water, making sure she was well rested before the pace picked back up.

Eventually, a small ink mouse scurried up to Sai and plopped into an open scroll, creating a splash of ink before the mouse turned the blank scroll into a report. 

Sai read through the result. “They found a few traps, and it looks like some of the scrolls are in different locations throughout the tower. The scrolls appear to be a bit heavy for a single mouse, but I can draw something a bit bigger that should be able to grab it without a problem.”

His teammates nodded agreement, and he got to work. 

Again, Team 7 had nothing to do but wait, making sure at least one of them always had an eye out for danger. Eventually, a small ink ferret came back, a scroll in its mouth.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. One major obstacle down, now to get it back to a gate. “You know, Tenten said we just had to get to  _ a _ gate, not necessarily the one we entered the forest through. Which way should we go from here?”

Sasuke frowned in concentration. “All the other gates probably have teams on their way here. We’re less likely to encounter someone if we head back to our own gate.” 

Since none of them really disagreed with his logic, it was just a moment’s work to pack up their gear, set a few more of Sai’s ink clones out as scouts, and start the long journey back.

A few hours later, a small ink mouse scurried up Sai’s leg and he gave the signal to halt. “Trouble ahead,” he quietly whispered. “Someone took out a couple of my scouts.”

“Start drawing some of your snakes” Sasuke commanded. “If they leave us alone until you’re done, so much the better. If not, we’ll buy you time.” 

Sakura nodded, and Sai reached for his tools. Before he could even start to draw, a brace of kunai came flying towards him. Sasuke quickly knocked them away, his eyes turning red as his sharingan flashed. 

“Not bad,” a Sand ninja appeared. He had orange hair, a long beak-like nose, and yellow eyes. “But you’ll have to do better than that to keep us from getting your scroll.”

Sasuke and Sakura took defensive positions in front of Sai, who continued working on his drawing. 

The Sand ninja was soon joined by his teammates, a shirtless man wearing a facemask and Sand headdress and another ninja whose forehead protector covered his eyes. 

The sightless ninja started forming a jutsu while the shirtless ninja and the long-nosed one pulled out their kunai, the long-nose using wire to throw over 15 kunai at once. 

Sasuke and Sakura gave each other a small nod and braced themselves. While Sasuke parried the barrage, Sakura ran forward and slammed her fist into a tree, breaking it and causing the Sand ninjas to lose their balance. 

In their moment of distraction Sai disappeared and Sasuke ran towards the shirtless ninja, pulling his sword out along the way. He knew he had to get rid of this one quickly, otherwise either he or Sakura would be facing two at once. 

Sasuke was forced to dodge before he could engage his chosen opponent - the sightless ninja had recovered and was sending water needles his way.  _ Damn, it didn’t work. Looks like I have to take on two at the same time. At least I only have to keep them busy until Sai finishes. _ He threw his own kunai at the shirtless ninja as a distraction, and turned to face the other. His opponent was able to block and parry most of his attacks, but that was okay. The Sand ninja couldn’t throw any more water needles during such a close engagement and Sasuke’s sword gave him a reach advantage. 

Besides, all he had to do was buy them some time. From the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Sakura take a moment during her own fight to throw a couple kunai at the shirtless ninja, helping each other out as best they could when outnumbered by their opponents.

A few more hectic moments of action and then, suddenly, Sai’s ink snakes were sliding around the Sand ninjas arms and legs, binding them tightly. 

Sasuke lowered his sword and nodded at Sai. 

“Good job, Sai” Sakura, as usual, gave a more verbal sign of approval. 

“What should I do with them now?” Sai asked, his face expressionless. Sakura knew Sai would do whatever they suggested - kill the Sand ninjas, release them, hold them indefinitely. While Sai was more capable of expressing his emotions now, there was still a part of him that was too used to casual killing to trust his own judgement about how to handle captive enemies.

“How long can you hold them like this? And can you make sure they’re released after we’re gone?” she asked.

“I can direct them to hold the Sand ninjas for a few hours until I release the jutsu.”

“Then leave them bound until we get far enough away that you can release them.”

They had no further encounters before they decided they were done for the day, and started looking for a secure place to spend the night. They knew they were getting close to the edge of the forest, but they didn’t want to risk running into the more dangerous nocturnal animals at night.

 

********************************

 

Sakura felt a huge wave of relief when their gate came into view. Although her entire team was worn out, it looked like they had made it without further incident.  _ I guess the Chunin exams aren’t so bad when you don’t have a Sannin attacking you _ . 

Once through, Team 7 looked around for some clue about how to make sure they were truly finished. 

“Is that a seal?” Sakura had noticed a small piece of paper attached to a tree.

“I think we’re supposed to put some chakra into it.”

Sakura hesitantly placed her hand on the seal and channeled her chakra. Smoke appeared, and as one Team 7 took a step back. 

The smoke cleared, revealing a jounin with dark, spiky hair and red sunglasses. 

“Aoba-san?” Sakura questioned the jounin. “What are you doing here?”

“Ah, Team 7. Congratulations, you’re the first team to make it through.” Aoba smiled. “You have the scroll?” 

Sasuke placed their scroll in his outstretched hand. “Perfect! You still have a few more days before the second stage ends, so you’ll have to stay at a designated holding area until the deadline. There were too many contestants to hold everyone in the tower this time, so if you follow me I’ll take you to the right location.”

Aoba led them to a large building where they picked out a room, dropped their gear, and went looking for showers and food. Sakura was glad to be done with this stage and just hoped that the rest of their group made it through alright.


	12. Final Stage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rookie Nine make it to the finals, and a discovery is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umm, so. The chunin fights started to be a bit of writer's block for me, in that I could literally have written chapters on each of the fights and I just wasn't interested in doing so. At all. They're not really relevant to this particular plot, other than showing how the Rookie 9 make chunin.
> 
> So I finally decided to just do a whirlwind summary of some of the fights, leading up to the part really relevant to the plot. Which I decided to put at the end of this chapter, since it would have made for an awfully small chapter all on it's own.
> 
> So here it is. 
> 
> And a reminder, again, for anyone eligible to vote in tomorrow's midterms.

A few days after Team 7 finished, they assembled at an indoor training ground with all the other successful teams. Sakura had been pleased to discover that Teams 8 and 10 made it through successfully, though Kiba kept muttering about some large stinky ninja and his team and shooting dirty looks at a nearby Grass team. She was also happy to see the Moon team made it through, though something about them seemed - off. They’d made it through at almost the last minute, but seemed remarkably well-rested and uninjured for a team that had spent so much time in the forest.

Sakura noticed Kakashi-sensei watching with the other jounins, up on the balcony. He was leaning casually against the railing, slouching slightly. She gave a small smile before snapping her attention forward. Tenten finished the usual congratulations and was now giving explanations for the next stage. Since ten teams had passed, Sakura was not surprised when Tenten announced a preliminary round. _Thirty people are way too many for the final tournament._

What did surprise her, however, was when Tenten ordered their groups to split into two, allowing the preliminary fights to be conducted simultaneously.

“That’s not fair,” complained a Sand ninja with his ninja hitai-ate wrapped like a bandana around his lower face. “If we might be fighting each other, we should be able to see all the fights.”

“Your teammates can take notes for you,” Tenten firmly replied. “Besides, there will be a month-long waiting period between when the preliminaries finish and the third exam begins. That will give time for all of you to develop new jutsus and compensate for anything revealed during the preliminaries.”

Sasuke and Sakura were in the same group, though Sai was unfortunately sent with the other. As they made their way to the spectator area, Sakura caught sight of their sensei.

“Kakashi-sensei, if you’re here who’s there for Sai?”

“Maa, shadow clones can be used for all sorts of things,” he relaxed against the wall.

“Are you a clone, then? Or the real one?” Sakura couldn’t help but ask.

Kakashi’s eye crinkled. “Yes.”

Before Sakura could pester her teacher any further, Tenten’s voice carried up into the stands.

“The first fight will be between Shino Aburame and Muyami. Will those named please come down to the arena.” Shino made his way down, and was soon joined by a short Grass ninja with brown hair and sunglasses.

Kiba took a spot next to Sakura. “It’s time for a little payback. That little twerp and his team were really, really annoying. Now that he’s not with his team, though, Shino’s got this.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, that Grass ninja is pretty good at moving through earth and has some sort of mole summons, but the summons won’t be much use in such a tight space. Besides, Shino’s bugs can handle him now that his teammates aren’t there for support.”

As Kiba predicted, Shino won the round. The Grass ninja put up a good fight, quickly disappearing underground and launching a surprise attack on Shino. But the Shino he attacked was actually a bug clone, and the fight lasted long enough for Shino to get his bugs in place. Once he started draining chakra from the Grass ninja it was all over.

Next up was Ino, who fought a young Sand ninja with short brown hair and glasses. The Sand ninja seemed fairly young for the competition, and his inexperience showed. Ino defeated him handily.

Sakura went next, her opponent another Sand ninja. This one, Yome, was short and looked almost child-like. Her brown hair was tied in two ponytails and she had large orange eyes. She did really well at first, dodging most of Sakura’s blows and moving faster than Sakura could. Then Sakura realized her opponent had some sort of dojutsu, and threw a flash bomb. The light blinded her opponent, and Sakura was able to knock the Sand ninja out.

Sasuke almost felt bad for his opponent, a genjutsu user matched against the sharingan. The Sand kunoichi was skilled, and it was too bad her opponent was pretty much immune to her jutsu. Still, a win was a win and at least Sasuke was going to be in the finals. For the second time.

The next fight was between two Sand kunoichi - a slightly older woman who used her chakra to generate some sort of praying mantis-like claws over her arms, fighting against a young kunoichi using a johyo, a weapon shaped like a dart attached to a long rope. The praying mantis arms held off the dart rather well, and as soon as the woman got her arms in close range her opponent was finished.

Kiba fought a fairly skilled kunoichi who was able to create a sandstorm to hide herself. Unfortunately for her, Kiba’s ability to smell her out meant the sandstorm didn’t work very well. With Akamaru and their speed, Kiba was eventually able to find her and knock her out.

The last fight was between Shira, a tall Sand ninja with taupe grey hair, and Houtaru, the Moon kunoichi. Houtaru mostly used taijutsu, and although she seemed reasonably skilled she was clearly outmatched.

“I’d love to see that guy fight Lee” Kiba remarked as he watched the fight. Sakura nodded in silent agreement. Shira’s speed and strength were phenomenal, and he quickly knocked Houtaru out of the fight.

That signaled the end of their matches. Soon the ninja from the other side joined them and the winners made their way down to the center. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as she realized all of her friends had made it - Sasuke, Sai, Ino, Choji, Kiba, Hinata, Shino. Of the Moon shinobi, Houtaru and Hisoka didn’t make it but Souta had. Of the remaining ninjas, one was Shira - the taijutsu expert that defeated Houtaru. Another was Ameno, the kunoichi with the praying mantis arms. Then there were a few ninjas Sakura hadn’t seen fight at all - a very large, obese Grass ninja in a red vest, another Grass ninja with dark hair and some sort of flag-like weapon, a hollow-cheeked Sand ninja who appeared to be one of Ameno’s teammates, and a Sand kunoichi with light blue hair tied in two ponytails. Sakura made a note to herself to ask Sai and Kakashi-sensei about their skills. All told, there were 15 ninjas in the finals.

They all drew numbers to determine who would fight who in the finals. Sakura’s opponent was going to be Ameno, the Sand kunoichi with the praying mantis arms. She eyed her opponent with curiosity before looking at the rest of the matches. Sai had a bye in the first round. And as for Sasuke -

“Sasuke, huh? I can hardly wait!” Kiba had a feral grin on his face. “We’ll have a good fight, eh?”

Sasuke barely gave Kiba any sort of acknowledgement, but those who knew him - and the Konoha 12 knew him fairly well by now - could tell he was looking forward to it.

Ino would be fighting Saya, the blue-haired Sand kunoichi. Choji would be fighting the huge Grass ninja, Burami. Shino had Ameno’s teammate, Shishio. And finally, Souta was paired against the dark-haired Grass ninja - Kazami.

As before, they would have one month to train before the finals. Since all three members of Team 7 had made it, Sakura wondered how Kakashi was going to handle that. Once they were dismissed, her team quickly surrounded their teacher.

“How are we going to train for the finals, Kakashi-sensei?”

“You, Sakura, already have a teacher.” Kakashi fondly looked at his team. “The Hokage has even cleared a bit of time from her schedule to work with you. As for Sasuke and Sai, well. I believe Sai has access to teachers that are better suited to his skills.” Sakura felt slightly cold at the reminder of her teammate’s circumstances. Of course he would have help preparing him for the finals. It’s just not the sort of help she’d have wanted. “So I’ll work with Sasuke again, mostly because between my elemental affinity and sharingan I really am best suited to teach him. Sakura, you know Tsunade can teach you far more than I ever could.”

Sakura nodded in agreement. It still felt - odd - that her teacher would spend so much time with only one of his students, but she couldn’t deny that he was best suited for it. And she’d be training with the Hokage! That was pretty amazing, really. As for Sai - she didn’t quite know what he’d be taught, but he’d already come to their team with better skills than most genin. Worried though Root made her about Sai on a personal level, she knew that they’d probably train him well. At least, when it came to fighting.

 

********************************

 

A month later the Konoha 12 were gathered together again for the final stage of the Chunin Exams - the tournament. It started out with a surprisingly good battle when Ino fought Sana - the Sand ninja with blue hair. Apparently Sana used a mind control jutsu similar to the Yamanaka in order to fight with puppets. Ino proved her mental skills were stronger and the Sand kunoichi did not take her loss well.

Souta fought Kazami, both of whom seemed to use Wind jutsu. The fight took place mostly at a distance until Souta managed to surround Kazami in a whirlwind of dust and used the distraction to get close enough to knock him out.

Choji fought the large Grass ninja - Burami - in an epic battle of the titans. Burami’s bulk and ability to throw large quantities of kunai was negated by Choji’s Multi-size Technique, an enlarged hand batting away the weapons. Choji managed to make the earth shake when he threw Burami several feet, and his Human Bullet Tank knocked the Grass ninja out for the count.

Sasuke fought Kiba in a fast paced battle. Kiba and Akamaru formed a two-headed wolf, but Sasuke proved himself faster and managed to avoid their Fang over Fang jutsu. It ended when Sasuke placed his sword against Kiba’s throat.

Shino fought Shishio, a sensor who was able to make himself invisible. Unfortunately for Shishio, his invisibility didn’t apply to Shino’s insects and he gave up when the kikaichu started draining his chakra.

Sakura went up against Ameno, who turned out to be a medic ninja. She was able to dodge the praying mantis hands easily, all of Tsunade-shisho’s training to dodge coming in handy. Eventually Sakura used her strength to knock the other kunoichi off her feet.

Shira, the taijutsu user, went up against Hinata. Although Hinata put on a good show, Shira was able to use a strange technique similar to Lee’s Eight Gates to knock her out.

Sai had a bye for the first round, so that finished the first round and the winners were given a few minutes before they began the next one.

Sakura and Choji started off the second round with a match against each other. The fight started out slow, as Choji was noticeably reluctant to go all out.

“Choji!” Sakura yelled. “You are not doing me any favors by going easy on me! If I don’t make chunin because you didn’t take me seriously I Will. Make. You. Regret. It!”

She smashed the ground with her fist, creating a large crack that split the arena in two.

Choji finally got his head in the game, and managed to eke out a win when he smashed Sakura against the wall.

Finally, it was Sasuke’s turn to face Souta. Although he had distanced himself from the Moon shinobi, he’d still been paying attention to his fight and knew to expect some pretty powerful Wind techniques.

Sure enough, Souta managed to blow away Sasuke’s initial flurry of kunai. Sasuke grabbed his sword and charged in close, but Souta managed to block and parry his blows with a kunai.

Again, there came that nagging sense of familiarity, but Sasuke shook it away and threw a fire jutsu. Souta dodged the fire jutsu, and kicked up a dust storm to cut down on Sasuke’s visibility. Blocking Sasuke’s sharingan was a pretty clever move, and Sasuke had to give Souta credit for that. Especially since Souta was somehow able to sense him despite the dust. Sasuke only just managed to block the first few blows. He took a moment to ready his sword and fell into a defensive position, scanning the dust for any sign of movement.

_There!_

He charged forward, sword ready to strike. Before he could reach his opponent, Souta did a strange sort of twist and threw a punch. Sasuke didn’t know if it was the lack of visibility or what, but that nagging sense of familiarity struck again. Those moves… that unpredictability. It was almost like fighting…

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. As he swung his sword, he caught Souta’s gaze and his eyes widened.

_Naruto! That was Naruto!_

By the way Souta - no Naruto’s - eyes widened, he knew Sasuke recognized him. Sasuke moved forward quickly, determined to finish the fight and pound some answers out of the blasted idiot. He struck like a snake, expecting Naruto to dodge.

Except…

Naruto.

Didn’t.

Sasuke felt panic sink in as his sword struck home, sliding horribly through Souta’s - Naruto’s - stomach. The feel of his blade sliding through flesh was sickening, bringing them face to face in a mockery of intimacy.

_Naruto…_

_he_

_hadn’t_

_dodged._

 

_Naruto!_

 

Brown eyes met black, widening in pain.

A small gasp, and Sasuke was close enough to feel Souta's chest move.

_Wha-_

A hand, reaching up to grab Sasuke’s shoulder

_I killed…_

Horror filled Sasuke, and his eyes began to burn.

 

A pair of lips, quirking into a pained smile. A _familiar_ smile.

_No!_

 

“Sorry, Sasuke. It was the only way.”

Naruto’s voice followed him down into darkness.


	13. A Rendezvous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke meets an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made good progress on a project (due this Friday) and did my part by voting. Here, have another chapter. :)
> 
> I left off at an awkward place (not quite the cliffhanger the last one was!!!), but the next chapter is truly monstrous and there's no natural place to break it up. So... well, bear with me please.
> 
> And by the way, thank you for all the kind comments! They are so addicting! I feel somewhat terrible since I don't always comment on some of the fics I read, and now I'm on the other end and realize just how great it is to hear people's reactions.

The smell of antiseptic and background noises told Sasuke that he was waking up in a hospital. He slowly woke up, his thoughts grew more coherent, and he realized that there were was someone else in the room.

_ What the hell happened? Naruto- I was fighting - Naruto. I… I stabbed him. He didn’t even dodge! _

A small cough brought him back to the present. Sakura was there, sitting by his bed and peeling an apple.

“Good, you’re awake.”

“Wha- “ Sasuke cleared his rusty throat and tried again. “What happened?”

“It was hard to tell with all that dust, but Souta managed to get some sort of seal on you. He said it would knock you out for a day or two.”

_ Souta- Naruto- he was- alive? But…  _

“He won?”

“Yeah. It seemed to take a lot out of him, though. He lost in the next round against that taijutsu expert.”

“The... others?”

“Everyone else is fine. A few scrapes and some really gorgeous bruises, but nothing too bad. Here, have one.” Sakura offered an apple slice to Sasuke.

He took it with bemusement. He still felt very disoriented, his brain working furiously to make sense of what happened.

“And… the Moon ninjas?”

“They left this morning. Here, they gave you a get well card.” Sakura handed Sasuke a card, his mouth quirking up as he noticed the orange writing. When he opened the card he saw some sort of seal at the bottom, and his breath caught. He fought the urge to open it now, to get some  _ answers _ dammit! Even if the seal gave him some sort of clue, he wasn’t ready to explain what had happened to Sakura. Not yet.

Later, when he was alone in his room, he pulled out the card and stared at the seal. Finally, he channeled some chakra into his hand and touched it.

Words appeared.  _ Our first training ground. 8am. Sensei’s time. _

Well. That had to be Naruto. And given the note, he wanted to meet at their first training ground at around 10 o’clock… given that Kakashi-sensei was always a couple of hours late, of course.

Sasuke sat back in his bed, his mind whirling. And… why had his eyes hurt? Naruto hadn’t touched his face at all. That burning sensation…

He jerkily got out of the bed and went to the bathroom. He looked like shit. Taking a deep breath, he stared at his reflection and channeled chakra into his eyes. His sharingan flared into life, just like normal. 

Still…

He recalled that moment again, the feel of his sword sliding into Naruto’s gut, wondering if he’d just killed him. His eyes began to burn. He added just a little more chakra, and gasped.

The tomoe in his eyes swirled and started to blur together, morphing into a black pinwheel. He stared at the Mangekyou Sharingan, his brother’s words echoing in his mind.  _ “...you have to kill your best friend.” _

But. He hadn’t. He didn’t. Naruto was still alive. And yet…

He shut off the chakra and watched as his eyes returned to normal. He wanted… no. He needed answers. And apparently, he just might get them.

The mirror reflected his fierce and determined expression.

Tomorrow, then.

 

********************************

 

Sasuke arrived at the training ground early, determined not to miss Naruto when he appeared. He was too tightly wound to practice throwing kunai or do much of anything else with his time, so he settled for pacing back and forth in front of the familiar training stumps. This was where it had all started. Where Kakashi gave them his infamous bell test. Where Naruto had been tied to a log, and Sasuke had offered some of his lunch.

That had been such a long time ago, and so much had happened since then. Naruto… gone. For _years_. And what was he doing here? Now? Was this… some sort of mission? Had Kakashi been telling the truth? Why hide who he was, though? Why go through the chunin exams as someone he wasn’t? And…

Where the hell had he learned to hide himself like that? Oh, sure… the hair and eyes were easy to disguise. And thinking about it, the green marks on Souta’s cheek obviously meant to hide his whisker marks. But…

This was Naruto. Naruto, who couldn’t lie to save his life. Who was always adding ‘dattebayo’ to his sentences, and talking about ramen, and being Hokage. Souta hadn’t said any of that, not even once. Sasuke was afraid he didn’t even know who Naruto was, any more.

A slight movement, and suddenly Souta was there. Naruto. His eyes were still brown -  _ contacts _ , Sasuke’s mind whispered. His hair was also brown.  _ Hair dye. _ The brown hair worn long, and tied up in a ponytail much like Shikamaru. Or rather, knowing Naruto, more like Iruka.  _ Hair is easy to grow out.  _ But that facial structure, the shape of the eyes…

For a moment, they just stared at each other. 

Now, with Naruto in front of him, Sasuke didn’t even know where to start.  _ Years _ of wondering and worrying about the blonde idiot, and here he was. Answers, presumably, just within reach.

“You look… good” Naruto said. 

Sasuke just stared in bewilderment. The first time he’d seen Naruto in years, and  _ that’s _ what he started with?

He felt anger rising up, pushing through the shock and numbness, flooding through him.

“What the hell,  _ Naruto _ !” he hissed. 

Naruto gave a sheepish grin, his arm rising up to scratch the back of his head in an achingly familiar way.

“Well, that’s, umm. It’s a really long story.”

“Where. Have. You. Been!” 

“I- “

Sasuke cut him off. “No. More importantly, why didn’t you tell us! We were supposed to be a team! We figured out that you were a jinchuriki, you know. I assume whatever you’ve been doing is tied to that. But wherever you went, whatever you’ve been doing… how could you leave like that! You should have asked your team to help, or at least told us you what you were doing!”  _ Told me. _ “You… you abandoned us!”

“Hey! Sakura has a family here! I couldn’t ask her to leave!” Naruto heatedly replied. “And you- you had your own mission. To kill your brother! How could I ask you to abandon that? Besides, it had nothing to do with you!”

Sasuke burned with fury. “Those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash,” he bit the words out. “And you - you abandoned us!”

“I didn’t abandon you! I was  _ protecting _ you!” Sasuke stopped, angry words at the tip of his tongue. Before they could fall, Naruto continued.

“I- There were S-class criminals after me.”

“I know.” The words came out harshly. “Akatsuki. One of them is  _ the man I swore to kill! _ ” 

“They’re… dangerous, Sasuke. We weren’t ready to face them, none us were.”

“So you just… left?”

“I had to. I’m a target, and they’ll go after anyone connected to me. How could I have brought you into that? You ought to know what that’s like - whenever you planned to go after Itachi, you weren’t going to bring us along for it, were you?”

Naruto gave Sasuke a knowing look, and Sasuke paused. Itachi- 

It still burned, his need to kill Itachi. Still drove him to train relentlessly, though his motives had merged with his desire to find Naruto. He remembered what it felt like, under the influence of Orochimaru’s cursed seal. Remembered how close he came to just… walking away.

And he remembered all the things that had happened over the past few years. The Konoha 12, who had grown on him like some sort of fungus. His teacher, and that glimpse of Kakashi’s personal grief. The good and the bad - their shared joy when Sakura first managed to revive a fish, their grief over missions gone wrong. Laughter over stupid clients and crazy situations. Sai, awkward and weird Sai, who could do all sorts of amazing things with his ink beasts and yet couldn’t understand social cues. All the things Naruto hadn’t been there for, all the things that made a team. He felt like he somehow understood something, now. Something he’d been missing for a long time.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have, but… “ he felt strangely calm, “I would have been wrong.”

Naruto looked at him in surprise, just for a moment. And then he gave a delighted laughed. 

_ What? _

“Oh, Sasuke. You really have come a long way, haven’t you?”

Sasuke clenched his fists. “I still want answers, you idiot. What the hell happened?”

“Here,” Naruto tossed Sasuke a scroll, and he caught it without breaking Naruto’s gaze. 

“What is this?”

“Answers. It’s sealed so only one of the Konoha 12 can open it, and what’s in there will destroy itself after a day.” 

Sasuke considered the scroll in his hand, considered what it meant that Naruto was handing it to him like this.

“You’re not staying.” His voice came out flat, almost accusing.

Naruto looked unusually solemn as he slowly nodded.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, he didn’t know what. Before he could get anything out, two more ninjas dropped down out of the trees - Hisoka and Houtaru.  _ If that’s even their names. Who knows who they are? _

He eyed the three ninjas - probably not even Moon ninjas, though the three of them together were clearly a team. Not Team 7, though.

He swallowed bitter words, and tried again.

“Will you… come back?”

Naruto tilted his head in consideration. “I hope to. Eventually. I still have to become Hokage, you know!” and he flashed that oh-so-familiar grin, before quickly sobering. “It may be a while, though. Years even.”

“When you’re done, you’ll come back. Right?” Sasuke persisted.

Naruto slowly nodded. “Yeah.” Then that grin came back, and he gave Sasuke a thumbs up. “It’s a promise!”

Houtaru tossed a second scroll to Sasuke. “Here, you and your friends might find this interesting. Talk to the Hokage after you’ve read it.”

Sasuke raised an eye in an unspoken question.

“You’ll see” she called, as Naruto and his teammates disappeared into the trees, leaving Sasuke behind. Again.

 

********************************

 

Sasuke walked through Konoha in a daze, not quite sure where to go or what to do next. He clutched the scrolls in his hand.  _ Answers _ , they’d promised.  _ Naruto _ had promised. He was distantly aware that an unusual number of ninjas were rapidly traveling the rooftops, though he dismissed it as irrelevant. 

“Oi! Sasuke!” Shikamaru’s voice broke through, and Sasuke’s eyes focused on the Nara. By the look of things, Shikamaru had been trying to get his attention for a while.

“What’s going on?” 

Sasuke stared at him blankly. 

Shikamaru gave a sigh and grabbed Sasuke by the arm. “Come along, I’ll take you home. Whatever’s got into you is going to be troublesome, I’m sure.”

Sasuke’s feet must have been taking him in that direction already, because it wasn’t much further before he was opening the door to his apartment.

Sasuke wasn’t ready to say anything yet, didn’t want to talk about what had just happened, so he thrust Houtaru’s scroll at Shikamaru. Not Naruto’s. Not the one that held - answers. 

Shikamaru opened the scroll, which contained a storage seal. When he released the seal he found piles and piles of papers. His eyes widened in shock as he skimmed a few.

“Where did you get these?” he almost choked on the question. “Do you know what this is!?!”

Sasuke collapsed into a chair. “Naruto” he almost whispered.

Shikamaru stared. 

“I- This-  _ Naruto _ ?”

Sasuke nodded. “Naruto. He was Souta. Naruto was Souta.” He repeated himself, almost unbelieving.

Shikamaru sunk into a chair, Sasuke could see thoughts racing across his face. After a moment Shikamaru stood up. “I think we need to get the others.” He looked at Sasuke in concern. “Why don’t you start making some onigari?” he suggested. He could tell that Sasuke needed some sort of task to do, something small and mindless to keep him busy. “I’ll get everyone else.”

Sasuke slowly nodded and headed towards the kitchen. He started to prep the onigari, only to discover he was still clutching Naruto’s scroll. He set it aside, for the moment, and got to work.

It took a little while to get everyone together, though most of the delay was because they were waiting for Sakura.

“Sorry guys,” she apologized as she breezed through the door. “Something strange was going on at the hospital. A whole bunch of ninjas just collapsed. Sai was one of them!”

“Sai? Is he okay?” Ino asked.

“Yeah,” Sakura waved her off as she took a seat. “Whatever it was, they all seem to be recovering now. They’re just going to observe everyone at the hospital for a few hours before sending them home. So… what’s going on?” 

They all turned to Shikamaru out of habit. “Actually, I think Sasuke should explain.” 

The weight of their attention fell on Sasuke, who was sitting quietly to the side, fingering Naruto’s scroll. The delay had given him time to absorb the shock, and he was almost back to his usual self.

“I saw Naruto,” he bluntly explained. He waited for the shock to fade before continuing.

“The Chunin exams… Souta was Naruto all along. I recognized him during our fight.” He grimaced. “That’s why he knocked me out. He took a stab wound to the gut just to get close enough to slap that seal on me.” He explained what he had figured out while recovering. “He didn’t want me telling anyone until they were done with… whatever they were doing.”

“Naruto?!?” Sakura’s mouth dropped open. 

“Na-Naruto-kun was Souta?” Hinata sat frozen in place. 

Again, Sasuke waited for the shock to die down and the louder voices to grow quiet.

“He gave me this scroll, said it had answers.” He held up the scroll he was still clutching tightly. “It only opens for one of us, and the contents would destroy themselves within 24 hours.”

The Konoha 12 barely breathed as he opened the scroll and slowly channeled chakra into the storage seal inside. Out came a VHS tape. The tension and anticipation was almost physical as Sasuke put the tape in his entertainment center and turned on the equipment.


	14. A Deluge of Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Konoha 12 are deluged with information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I didn't like leaving the story where it was yesterday, and am posting the next chapter. After this I'll go back to posting less regularly, I'm hoping for doing so on a weekly basis but no promises. Especially since the end of the semester is coming up fast, and that pesky job hunting thing has to happen.
> 
> Btw, this is probably my longest chapter yet. There just didn't seem to be a good place to break it into anything smaller, so it's one big lump.

Tension filled the room as the video began to play. It looked like the video was recording with some sort of personal camera. The Konoha 12 could just make out a hotel room, and Shikamaru recognized where the Moon shinobi were staying. The camera view moved abruptly, as whoever was holding it wasn’t trying to keep it steady as they walked. The picture finally stabilized when the camera focused on Hisoka, who was packing a bag in one of the hotel bedrooms.

 

 

> _“Say ‘Hi’ for the camera!”_

 

Houtaru’s cheery voice indicated she was the one behind the camera.

 

 

> _“Houtaru. What are you doing?” Hisoka looked towards the camera, or rather, at the person behind the camera._
> 
> _“Souta’s almost done and the privacy seals are in place. Go on, say ‘Hi’!_
> 
> _Hisoka looked a little bemused, but he gave a small wave._
> 
> _“Good, now come on! It’s time to take off our disguises!”_
> 
> _Hisoka sighed and reached for a nearby cloth._

 

The Konoha 12 barely breathed as Hisoka used the cloth to wipe his face. He must have had some sort of makeup on, because as the cloth fell away a familiar kanji appeared over his brow and raccoon-like lines surrounded his eyes. He reached up to remove some contact lenses, revealing that his true eye color was more of aturquoise blue.

Lee choked out “Gaara!” as they realized who Hisoka must be.

 

 

> _“And don’t forget your hair!” Houtaru’s cheery voice came through._
> 
> _Hisoka raised an eyebrow“You are well aware that my  hair is dyed this color. I can’t remove it until we’re done with our mission.”_
> 
> _“Just do a henge, so they can see what we really look like. Come on! We agreed on this!”_
> 
> _Hisoka again sighed and brought his hands together to perform a henge._

 

It was almost anticlimactic when Hisoka’s blonde hair changed into a now-familiar blood red.

 

 

> _“Great, my turn! Here, hold the camera.”_

 

The camera jiggled a bit as it transferred hands, and the screen focused on Houtaru. 

 

 

> _“You guys wouldn’t know me from before, but here’s what I really look like,” she said. She proceeded to take contact lenses out of her eyes, revealing that they were a burnt orange color instead of purple. A henge later, and her hair changed from light brown to a pale, minty green. The crowning touch was when insect wings appeared from her lower back and she began to hover a foot or two off the ground._
> 
> _“Aaahhh!” the woman they knew as Houtaru grinned brightly. “It’s been way too long since I could fly. All right, onwards!”_

 

Shino watched the kunoichi he thought he had known as she grew wings, and flew. His eyes widened behind his sunglasses. Those wings were - insectlike. It definitely explained why she had no problem with his kikaichu. He had enjoyed her company over the past month or so, but seeing her fly - like a giant insect - brought awe and wonder to his heart. Houtaru’s wings were beautiful. She was beautiful.

“The Seven-Tails was reportedly some sort of insect.” Shikamaru said in a thoughtful tone, his eyes glued to the screen. “And it’s jinchuriki was reportedly a kunoichi from Waterfall.”

Houtaru - or perhaps the Seven Tails jinchuriki - must have retaken control of the camera, because the view swooped and swirled as she seemingly flew to another room. When the camera finally stopped swooping around, it focused on Souta - who was drawing a complex seal over a large mirror on the hotel wall.

 

 

> _“Almost done,” Houtaru announced._

 

Hinata felt nervous as she watched Souta’s back, waiting for Souta to finish doing whatever he was doing to the mirror. She’d gotten close to Souta over the past month or so, and it hurt to realize that he was really Naruto all along. As she watched the familiar figure she recalled what he looked like and her mind painted his hair bright yellow, turned his eyes a brilliant blue. Could it really be?

It wasn’t too much longer before Souta gave a satisfied sound and straightened up.

 

 

> _“Souta! Time to take off your disguise.”_
> 
> _“Sure, Houtaru. Just let me put my sealing supplies away.”_

 

Souta put a cap on the sealing ink and placed the brush in a cup of soapy water. When he finished, he turned to face the camera directly and reached for his eyes.

They knew what was coming. Sasuke had told them, and Gaara and Houtaru had proven that that the Moon shinobi weren’t who they had thought they were. Still, the Konoha 12 sucked in a breath as Naruto took out a pair of contacts to reveal brilliant blue eyes, peeled off the green markings from his cheeks to show a familiar pair of whiskers, and did a henge that changed his hair from brown to bright yellow. It was still strange to see his hair tied in a high ponytail, but when he was done none of the Konoha 12 could doubt that Souta was, indeed, their long-lost classmate. A sigh ran through the room as the camera focused on Naruto. A Naruto that was older than their memories held - taller, perhaps a bit more serious, his hair and clothes entirely different. Yet clearly, undisputably, Naruto.

 

 

> _“So, uh. I guess you guys are wondering what’s going on.” Naruto seemed a bit hesitant, his hand reaching up to rub the back of his head. “It’s just… Well, you see… “_
> 
> _“Just begin at the beginning, Souta.” Gaara’s softly but firmly commanded._
> 
> _“Right, right. Okay.”_
> 
> _Naruto seemed to grow more sure of himself, he stood up straighter and looked directly at the camera. “I think you guys know that I’m a jinchuriki, at least, from what Hisoka understood. You guys… “_
> 
> _Naruto’s voice tightened with emotion._
> 
> _“You guys have no idea how much it means to me, to us, that you were looking for me.”_
> 
> _Houtaru broke in, her voice unusually serious and slightly sad. “The only one who might have missed me was our village leader, Shibuki, and I’m not sure how much of that was personal and how much was because I was the village weapon.”_
> 
> _“I had only had a few months after the invasion to show that I had changed, not enough time to change anyone’s opinions of me. Most of the Sand ninjas felt nothing but… relief.” Gaara’s voice gave no inflection, no indication of any emotion.._
> 
> _Naruto nodded. “You guys are amazing, and I’m sorry we couldn’t tell you who we were. But I’ll get to that.” He waved a hand dismissively. “We decided that we owed you all an explanation, given what you’ve already figured out and what we know of you all. So that’s what we’re doing here.”_
> 
> _“I suppose it all started years ago, after Tsunade-baa-chan became Hokage. See, what Hisoka told you about the Ten-Tails is true, and there’s this organization that has been keeping tabs on the jinchuriki, worried that someone would try to recreate it. They aren’t too concerned with normal political stuff, but every time a jinchuriki had a Tailed Beast extracted they would look for signs that it was something more than a political ploy. There’s a family with a kekkei genkai, they’re kind of like oracles, though most of what they see is pretty vague and hazy.”_
> 
> _Naruto took a deep breath. “Anyways. When Itachi and Kisame attacked me, they used their kekkei genkai to look into the future, and they saw that their worst fears were realized. Someone was planning to recreate the Ten-Tails. They came up with this really complicated jutsu._
> 
> _“I can’t explain the jutsu very well, something about using the remaining chakra of the Ten-Tails, and seals, and getting as many of the jinchuriki as they could to all perform this thing at the same time, and using the Tailed Beasts to empower it so we could get a clearer view of this future. It’s sort of a one-time thing, and they used up all the Ten-Tail chakra they somehow had access to._
> 
> _I dunno, it’s all really complicated, but the details don’t really matter. Basically, since it was powered by the Tailed Beasts - the Ten-Tails and the nine Tailed Beasts it was later divided into - the visions mostly focused on the Beasts themselves. And since we jinchuriki are connected to the Tailed Beasts, we’re pretty much part of all the visions as well. Akatsuki would - will have? Sheesh, tenses are weird when you’re talking about a future that hasn’t happened - anyways, they’d extract most of the Tailed Beasts, so we also got some glimpses of their activities.Those are pretty fuzzy, and we had to guess the context, but for all intents and purposes we were given a chance to see the future.”_
> 
> _“_ A _future,” Gaara’s voice corrected Naruto. “We’ve made sure that it isn’t_ the _future.”_
> 
> _Naruto nodded. “Right._ A _future. I suppose I could try telling you what all I saw, but we-” Naruto waved his hand around to indicate his team, and presumably all the jinchuriki and their mysterious partners “- worked out a way to show each other our visions. We don’t have the time to create a full set of seals. I can’t give you sound, and I’ll be so focused on showing the images that I won’t really be able to talk while I do it, but… “ Again, Naruto took a deep breath. “I’d rather show you what I saw than tell, and Hisoka and Houtaru have seen these often enough that they can explain what we’ve figured out.”_
> 
> _With that Naruto turned towards the mirror and placed his hand on the seal. Someone had steadied the camera, which now zoomed in so the mirror filled the entire screen._

 

You could have heard a pin drop, the Konoha 12 were so focused on the screen that they were barely moving. Visions of the future? The Ten-Tails? What. The. Hell.

 

 

> _The mirror blurred, then slowly grew clearer as an image formed. A surprisingly familiar image, actually. Houtaru, her hair shorter and her clothes different. Two men appeared, wearing black coats with red clouds._

 

Sakura gasped as she recognized the two Akatsuki members. “We saw them a year or so ago, fighting the Two-Tail and Eight-Tail jinchuriki,” she murmured. “The one with the scythe is Hidan and the other is Kakuzu.” They caught glimpses of some sort of fight, and then an image of Houtaru in a cave, red chakra pouring out of her, her face contorted in agony.

 

 

> _“I would have been the first to go.” Houtaru said in an unusually subdued voice. “It wasn’t too hard to convince me to agree to our plan, I apparently didn’t have much longer to live otherwise.”_
> 
> _The images shifted, and now a tall, heavily armored ninja was fighting two more Akatsuki members, steam pouring out of the armored man’s back. Again, a quick glimpse of the man, captured and captive in a cave, red chakra pouring out._
> 
> _“Han, jinchuriki of the Five-Tails.” Gaara quietly explained. “Captured, Tailed Beast extracted, and dead as a result.”_

 

Soon, another image filled the screen. A village, in a desert. Ino gasped as the image showed Gaara, wearing the Kazekage robes. “Gaara would have been Kazekage? That is sooooo weird!”

 

 

> _“We have a lot of visions surrounding this event,” Gaara narrated. “Mostly because Naruto and I are both involved.”_
> 
> _“Do you ever wish you’d stayed and become Kazekage?” Houtaru softly asked._
> 
> _“I would not have been much of a Kazekage if I’d done that, if I ignored the threat for my own ambition.” Gaara paused for a second. “In some ways, just knowing what could have been is- satisfying. Temari is doing a good job, and the Sand village will never have to face… this.”_

 

While Gaara and Houtaru were talking, a battle was taking place on the screen. The alternate Gaara was fighting a blonde Akatsuki member flying on a giant bird. By the various explosions going on, it seemed this Akatsuki member used some sort of explosive clay. Eventually, in a scenario that was growing all too familiar, Gaara was worn down and captured. This time the visions lasted long enough that they could tell Gaara had used up all his chakra protecting the village. The screen went blank for a second, and instead of the usual Tailed Beast extraction, a more familiar scene appeared.

“The Hokage’s office!” Lee shouted.

“And… Team 7?” Sakura’s brow crinkled. Tsunade was sitting at her desk, and there was Kakashi. And herself - which was just weird, since she knew she’d never been in that particular situation before, especially since Naruto was standing next to her other self.

Except it wasn’t the Naruto they’d recently come to know. This Naruto was wearing a darker version of his trademark orange jumpsuit. _It’s like a Naruto that had never left Konoha_. Except - where was Sasuke?

Sasuke also looked at the office scene in confusion. Naruto. Sakura. Kakashi. Where was he?

Another scene change, and now Kakashi's team was entering the Sand Village, Temari - a Temari that wasn't the Kazekage - alongside. Then a flurry of images showing Sakura working furiously to save... Kankuro?

“Wow, Sakura. You look really bad-ass.” Ino complimented her friend/rival.

 

 

> _“Sakura’s pretty amazing.” Houtaru commented in an eerie echo of Ino._
> 
> _“It is strange to be grateful to someone for something they haven’t actually done,” Gaara responded, “yet knowing that Sakura could and would have saved my brother from poisoning is something I am... thankful for.”_

 

Sakura shifted in discomfort. It was just as weird to be thanked for something she hadn’t done as it was for Gaara to feel grateful for it. Still, it was fascinating. Although she couldn’t quite see all the details, she thought she could identify the technique her alternate self was using. She _could_ do that. She really could.

Next came an image of Gaara, like the other captured jinchuriki he was lying on a cave floor with red chakra pouring out. Then Team Kakashi appeared again, apparently fighting... Itachi? Except the body at the end wasn't Itachi at all.

Sasuke’s fists tightened at the sight of his brother, though maybe it wasn’t his brother? And he wondered, yet again… where was he in all this? Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi - they were fighting _his_ enemy.

 

 

> _“Extracting a Tailed Beast takes time,” Gaara’s calm voice was an odd contrast to the images they had just seen. “From what we could tell, Akatsuki used some sort of body control jutsu to delay the rescue while they extracted the One-Tail from me._

 

Lee gasped as a new scene appeared, Team Gui had joined Team Kakashi in front of a giant rock, protected by some sort of seal.

“It’s very surreal,” Tenten murmured, not moving her eyes from the image of… herself. The alternate Team Gui apparently left to take care of some of the seals, and alternate Sakura utterly destroyed the boulder in front of the cave.

Someone else gasped as the image cleared, and they saw an Akatsuki member _sitting_ on dead Gaara’s body!

“How horrible,” Hinata winced at the cruelty.

 

 

> _“That vision always ticks me off,” Houtaru seemed quite familiar with the scene. “It doesn’t matter if you would have been miraculously revived, you were dead, and he shouldn’t treat you like a- a- like a couch!”_
> 
> _“I got better,” Gaara said in flat voice. “And we’ve done everything we can to make sure this future isn’t going to happen.”_
> 
> _“‘Got better’,” Houtaru snorted. “Dead is dead, even if some miraculous jutsu allowed that old lady to give her life in order to resurrect you. You still would have been dead, and that Akatsuki guy still disrespected your dead body.”_
> 
> _“He was trying to get a rise out of Naruto, and it seemed to work rather well.”_

 

Thankfully, their uncomfortable conversation was cut short as the scene changed to an open field. An old lady was pouring chakra into Gaara’s body, an orange-clad Naruto feeding his own chakra to her. As Houtaru had indicated, somehow Gaara was soon revived and the old lady died.

 

 

> _“Yet again, I am grateful to someone for something they haven’t actually done.” Gaara quietly commented. “I would never have guessed Granny Chiyo was capable of doing that, much less doing it for me.”_
> 
> _That must have been the end of Gaara’s encounter, because the next few visions showed something entirely different. Two Akatsuki members - Hidan and Kakuzu - were facing a blonde-haired woman, who was apparently another jinchuriki because she turned into a large blue cat. The repetitive capture and extraction was beginning to be depressing._
> 
> _“Yugito,” Houtaru named the woman. “She deserved better than this.”_
> 
> _“All the jinchuriki deserve better.” Gaara replied._

 

Sakura and Sasuke recognized the Two-Tails from their previous encounter. At least, with the Eight-Tail jinchuriki joining in, that had gone better for her than it had here.

“Those guys are really strong,” Choji worriedly munched on some chips.

Next they saw a large body of water, and in it was a giant monster that looked somewhat like a turtle. It was chasing a strange man wearing the all-too-familiar cloak of an Akatsuki member along with an orange mask. A large clay fish appeared, similar to the flying bird that the blonde Akatsuki member had used against Gaara. There was a large explosion, and a glimpse of Akatsuki dragging off the turtle.

 

 

> _“The Three-Tails”, Houtaru explained. “When a jinchuriki dies the Tailed Beast takes a while before it reforms. In this case the Tailed Beast had reformed and was not sealed into a person, and Akatsuki was there to capture it.”_

 

What they had seen so far was disturbing, but most of the action was between Akatsuki and, well, strangers. Other than Gaara and the Sand village, of course. But the Konoha 12 were still adjusting to the fact that Gaara wasn’t the bloodthirsty monster they remembered, so most of what they were seeing came across as a rather amateur movie or television show. Distant, the only personal connection so far was the role Teams Kakashi and Gai had played in Gaara’s capture.

That all changed in the next scene, which showed Naruto and various other ninjas dressed in black and attending a funeral.

 

 

> _“Ah, Souta must have decided to show what we know for sure, before showing the images we think are associated with what happened.” Gaara’s voiceover explained._

 

“A… funeral?” Ino wondered aloud. “For who?”

Shikamaru felt a cold weight grow in his gut as a picture of Asuma-sensei was prominently displayed.

“A- Asuma-sensei” Choji choked out.

“No!” Ino gasped.

Team 10 watched attentively, determined to find out what could have happened to cause Asuma-sensei’s death. They saw glimpses of two now familiar Akatsuki members…

“Hidan and Kakuzu” Sakura somberly stated.

Scenes flickered by quickly, almost like snapshots, though the sequence portrayed a tragic story - what looked like Kotetsu and Izumo, attacking Hidan. Hidan taking mortal wounds - and shrugging them off.

The cold feeling in Shikamaru’s gut grew stronger as they caught a glimpse of Hidan - somehow his skin turned black and white, a cloud of ash engulfing him. _That’s Asuma-sensei’s technique._ Except the next image showed Asuma-sensei, burnt as though he’d been hit by his own technique. A glimpse of Hidan’s severed head… talking.  _How is he still alive?_

 

 

> _“We know that, somewhere in that other future, Naruto attended a funeral for Asuma. From what few images we found, we think he was killed by Hidan and Kakuzu, the two Akatsuki members shown here.” Gaara explained. “We’re not entirely sure how it happened, but we’ve studied what little information we had extensively, and we think Hidan, in particular, is truly immortal. He seemed to have some sort of jutsu that dealt any damage he received to whoever he caught with that jutsu._
> 
> _“From what we can tell, Shikamaru was able to figure out a way around it… but the knowledge came at a cost. This sort of information is a large part of why we developed this viewing technique. Even if the future has changed, even if we’ve changed events so that it doesn’t happen, we can learn a lot about the capabilities of our opponents this way. And, hopefully, we won’t have to pay the same sort of costs.”_

 

There were a few scenes showing Naruto working on some sort of powerful technique, and then a glimpse of Team 10 and Kakashi-sensei fighting Hidan and Kakuzu. The disconnected images stopped their made display and seemed to settle on a clear narrative, this time showing- Naruto. Of course. The jinchuriki had told them that most of the images were tied to the Tailed Beasts. It appeared that once Naruto (along with Sakura and Sai) joined Team 10 and Kakashi’s fight, the visions grew more coherent.

 _Sai. Why is Sai there?_ Sasuke wondered to himself. _Where am I?_ It’s so strange, to see what looks like Team 7, over and over again… except he doesn’t see himself there.

 

 

> _We think Naruto’s team arrived as back-up to Team 10 and Kakashi-sensei. At this point, Shikamaru appears to have taken Hidan off to fight elsewhere. We’re not entirely sure what happened in that fight, but since Shikamaru appears later on in the timeline he must have won. Or, at least, not lost._

 

Naruto used his new technique to defeat Kakuzu, utterly destroying him with one hit. His victory wasn’t enough to shake the horror the Konoha 12 felt, particularly Team 10. If this was what the future had held, no wonder Naruto was trying to change it.

The next image thankfully didn’t show anyone from Konoha, though given what had happened every time Akatsuki had appeared so far, the Konoha 12 knew it was still going to be bad. In this case, they saw a large blue man wearing the all-too-familiar Akatsuki robe, dangling  a small red-headed man from his giant sword. Sasuke gritted his teeth as he recognized Kisame Hoshigaki, the Swordsman of the Mist who worked with Itachi.

 

 

> _“Roshi,” Houtaru softly stated. “Jinchuriki of the Four-Tails._

 

Again, the Tailed Beast was extracted, and then a new image appeared - Jiraiya getting stabbed multiple times, clearly dying at the hands of ninjas with orange hair, purple eyes, and wearing Akatsuki robes.

“How are we supposed to fight something like that?” Kiba whispered.

Another flicker, and the orange haired and purple eyed men were facing off against a young man in a light blue kimono. The man was apparently another jinchuriki, yet again defeated and the Tailed Beast extracted.

 

 

> _“Utakata, jinchuriki of the Six-Tails.” Houtaru named the young ninja._
> 
> _“At this point, Akatsuki has managed to capture the One-Tail, Two-Tails, Three-Tails, Four-Tails, Five-Tails, Six-Tails, and Seven-Tails. The jinchuriki who held those beasts all died, though in my case I would apparently have been revived.”_
> 
> _“At this point, the only tailed beasts remaining are the Eight-Tails, held by Killer Bee in Cloud, and the Nine-Tails.”_

 

Gaara’s voice sounded way too calm for such a horrifying statement, especially since everything they had seen showed that Akatsuki was very powerful, and not likely to give up.

 

 

> _“I believe the next incident was one of the biggest reasons Souta decided to do everything he could to change the future._

 

Nobody quite knew what to make of that statement, though it filled them with foreboding. Especially when the next image showed a familiar sight - Konoha.

It was almost expected by now, to see Akatsuki members. This time they saw six ninjas with orange hair and purple eyes - a young girl instead of one of the men they had seen previously - along with a blue-haired woman seemingly made out of paper. They managed to break through Konoha’s defenses, and what followed was the worst attack the Konoha 12 had ever seen, far worse than the Sand/Sound invasion during the previous Chunin Exams.

Large summons cavorted through town, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Buildings were turned into rubble, explosions and smoke appearing all over the place. There  were glimpses of fights throughout the city, all the more horrifying because they occurred in a place they knew well - home.

Aburame members fought the blue-haired woman, their bugs going up against her paper clones. Kiba and his mother chased one of the orange-haired men through the streets. There was a quick snapshot of Sakura, knocking out a giant centipede. Kakashi-sensei faced off against a man who seemed able to push and pull people at a whim. Choji and his father appeared to help, but for all their efforts nothing seemed to stop the tide of destruction.

 

 

> _“The part that affected Souta the most, I think, is something you can’t tell without sound.” Gaara’s voice seemed surreal when juxtaposed across the images of destruction._
> 
> _“Throughout this attack the Akatsuki members kept asking the same question, over and over and over again._
> 
> _“Where is Naruto Uzumaki?”_

 

A glimpse of a man, covered in paper, one sheet peeling off to uncover his mouth.

 

 

> _“Where is Naruto Uzumaki?”_

 

Two men, held up by one of the orange-haired men, struggling in his grasp _._

 

 

> _“Konoha would be attacked for one reason, and one reason only - to capture Naruto Uzumaki.”_

 

They saw giant white slugs with blue markings marching through the city.

“Tsunade-shishou’s summons” Sakura’s mouth went dry, she knew things must truly be desperate if her Hokage was summoning the slugs.

Shizune appeared, held in the grasp of another orange-haired ninja, this one with long hair. He did - something - and she collapsed to the ground.

Sakura covered her mouth in horror as her eyes watered. _Not Shizune!_

And then one of the orange-haired men rose into the sky like an avenging angel, spread his hands, and _pushed_.

“No” someone quietly moaned as Konoha was cleared down to the bedrock, a wave of destruction turning everything they knew - _everything_ \- into rubble.

No one moved, no one seemed capable of even breathing, as the enormity of the destruction sank in.

The Konoha 12 were frozen in place, and the images continued like an implacable force. The short flashes they’d been given soon steadied into a more consistent stream as Naruto appeared, surrounded by giant toads.

 

 

> _“Naruto had apparently been absent, learning Sage Mode with the Toads,” Gaara explained. “We’ve reviewed this attack over and over again, trying to capture as much information from it as we can. In summary - the six orange-haired people are actually controlled by one person, one Akatsuki member. He controls them by sending chakra to those black receivers in their bodies. Each body has different powers - summoning animals, gravity, mechanization to form extra arms, heads, missiles, and so on. Mind reading, chakra absorption, and power over life and death.”_

 

Sage Mode? Just how powerful was Naruto? And did the real Naruto have anything even close to the power of this other self?

 

 

> _“Naruto’s success here was dependent on the entire village’s ability to learn everything they could about Pein, something that started with Jiraiya’s death. Information is worth more than gold, and this information would have been bought at the cost of many lives.”_

 

They watched as Naruto managed to take down most of the forces that had destroyed Konoha. Most of it.

They were too numb to really react when this other Naruto was captured, chakra rods stuck through his hands… and eventually his entire body.

 _I suppose if he could survive that, surviving a sword in his gut wasn’t too much of a challenge._ Sasuke thought. And still, in the back of his mind, he wondered - _Where was I during all of this?_

They were jolted out of their shock when Hinata appeared, her determination when facing someone who had proven themselves so powerful was inspiring and horrifying at the same time.

“Hinata” Ino whispered.

“What were you thinking!?!” Neji scolded the cousin he’d grown fond of.

Hinata blushed, but lifted her chin up as she watched. For the first time in a long, long time, she found herself proud of herself, proud to know she could become the person on the screen. Even if she herself hadn’t stood up to a powerful ninja like that, just knowing that she was capable of becoming that sort of person gave her hope. And that Twin Lion jutsu - she’d only just begun thinking about a technique like that. Knowing that she apparently _could_ achieve it gave her confidence.

 

 

> _“Hinata’s really strong,” Houtaru’s voice drew the Konoha 12’s attention back to the screen._
> 
> _“She’s overmatched,” was all Gaara said in reply._
> 
> _“True. But still. Fighting even when you know you are going to lose is… something. Says something. If we only fought when we were certain of victory, we would all bow before overwhelming force. Like Pein, here. I’d rather fight to the end than just give up when someone more powerful me comes along.“_
> 
> _Gaara snorted. “Since his plan involves extracting our Tailed Beasts, you’d die if you didn’t fight anyway.”_
> 
> _“True. I’m just saying that it’d be worth fighting even if I didn’t know that, though.”_

 

And then, proving that no matter how horrible things always were they could always get worse, the Konoha 12 watched Pein lift Hinata in the air. She tumbled like a leaf on the wind, her fluttering grace somehow making it even more horrifying as he smashed her into the ground. And then…

 

 

> _“We’ve worked so hard to prevent this future, learned to work with our Tailed Beasts, and I’ve seen Naruto when he’s in full control of the Nine-Tails powers. Which always makes it a shock to see Kurama like this.” Houtaru’s voice was like a lifeline in the madness, holding out hope._

 

“Holy shit,” Kiba whispered in horrified awe.

“Is that- a skeleton? The Nine-Tails is forming a body?”

The fight between Naruto in Sage Mode and Pein had seemed - overpowered. Devastating. Yet compared to the Nine-Tails, the previous fight had still been on a level that was still… human. Jiraiya had been a sage, after all. Kages and other powerful ninjas could fight at that level. It was - achievable.

This, however. This took the fight to a whole other level. The Nine-Tails raged, his power pure destruction, and it was made all the worse by the knowledge that somewhere, in all that sound and fury, was Naruto.

And then Pein did _something_ , released a deceptively small little ball that floated up into the air - and started sucking up the very ground.

“What the hell!?!”

“It’s like a miniature moon!”

The Nine-Tails, in full fury, was caught in its gravitational pull and locked into the growing orb of rock. An orb that was just _floating_ in the air.

And then the Nine-Tails started breaking free.

 

 

> _“It’s hard to explain this next bit, we basically are guessing based on a few things we learned.” Gaara’s calm voice washed over the Konoha 12, reminding them yet again that this was not real, not a future that was going to happen. “We know that Naruto’s parents put some of their chakra in his seal, and that the Fourth Hokage put a failsafe in. We think this triggered the failsafe.”_

 

The Konoha 12 gave a sigh of relief when the Nine-Tails just disappeared, leaving Naruto in its place.

 

 

> _“Since we don’t have sound, the concluding fight won’t explain things very well” Gaara said as future Naruto defeated the sixth Pein and found the real one. “The important thing to know is that Pein has power over life and death, and after their argument here Pein apparently resurrected all those who lost their lives during the battle. Konoha is still pretty much destroyed, but at least its people survived.”_

 

It was a relief to hear, but not much of one. After all, rebuilding a village the size of Konoha would be a huge challenge. Shikamaru shuddered just thinking about the logistics required. Food. Water. Shelter. It may be preferable to death, but such an attack would weaken Konoha for a very long time.

He could see why Naruto was determined to prevent this from happening.

 

 

> _“The destruction of Konoha led to a Five Kage Summit, and that is where the Fourth Shinobi War was declared. As the only remaining jinchuriki, Naruto would have been sent into hiding with Killer Bee, jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails. Killer Bee taught him how to work with his Tailed Beast.”_

 

The Konoha 12’s faces grew grim at the thought that there’d be a fourth war in their lifetime as an image of Naruto, bumping fists with an older Cloud ninja. The ninja, presumably Killer Bee, had sunglasses and the tattoo of a bull’s horn on his cheek. Then they saw Naruto, sitting in a meditative pose with half his body covered in the now familiar red chakra. His other half was _glowing_ with a cheery, bright flame.

 

 

> _Houtaru gave an audible sigh. “I just love his Nine-Tails chakra mode. It’s so very different from the out-of-control form. So… warm and cozy looking, like a living campfire or torch or something._

 

The image stopped showing for a second, the screen grayed out and all they heard was a small snort.

 

 

> _“Oi, Kurama. She wasn’t saying_ you _were warm and cozy!”_
> 
> _Silence._
> 
> _“Nobody thinks you’re a lapdog, you damn fox!_
> 
> _More silence._

 

The Konoha 12 looked at each other. Was he… talking to the Nine-Tails?!? Just how familiar was Naruto - were _all_ of them - with their Tailed Beasts?

 

 

> _Houtaru started giggling, and Gaara scolded her. “Don’t get them started.”_

 

It was… strange. To know that some sort of discussion was going on, one that none of them could hear. It was even more disturbing to realize that whatever this discussion was, it involved three Tailed Beasts, each of which was capable of destroying Konoha in their own right.

 

 

> _There came a bright and familiar laugh, and then Naruto’s warm voice rang out. “Great, let’s get this done!” And the screen lit up with images again._

 

A shiver went through their spines as the screen showed Gaara, as Kazekage, standing in front of more ninjas than they had ever seen assembled in one place before. By the clothes and equipment, the force was composed of ninjas from all five major Hidden Villages, even though they all were wearing the same hitai-ate - a forehead protector etched with the kanji for ‘Shinobi’.

A flurry of chaotic images crossed the screen, confusing and heartbreaking. Numerous strange plant-like men attacked a force along a beach. Others, Gaara included, were fighting ninjas with cracks in their skin and eyes with dark sclerae instead of white.

“Is that… the Reanimation Technique?” Shikamaru wondered aloud. He had heard about it, heard about how the Third Hokage died, but he never expected to see it used on such a massive scale.

A giant meteorite plummeted towards the earth. A massive forest grew in seconds. Glimpses of familiar faces - Hinata, fighting numerous plant men. Shikamaru, on a field where ninjas were carefully standing in marked out spots on the ground. Kiba and Akamaru. Choji, looking strangely thin. Sakura, healing the wounded in a medic compound of some sort.

And, throughout many of the scenes, a golden flicker appeared. Naruto in his Nine-Tails chakra mode, a beacon of light shining through the darkness. Over, and over, and over again, throughout the entire battlefield, slamming down two of the tree-men in front of Sakura, trees sprouting from their bodies. Yelling and pointing at various ninjas, who turned into those blasted tree-men when attacked.

Some of the scenes were… almost too horrifically monstrous to comprehend. Oh, sure, seeing Naruto transform into a giant, glowing nine-tailed fox was pretty cool. But then he and the other Tailed Beasts were throwing around giant balls of chakra like they were nothing, and each ball was capable of devastating _mountains_! Explosions lit up the screen, as large or larger than the one that had destroyed Konoha.

A glowing Naruto, engaged in what looked almost like a game of tag with a masked man. The masked man, revealed to be a ninja with half his face heavily scarred, one eye - _the sharingan?!?_ \- the other the same purple pattern as the ninja who destroyed Konoha. A reanimated ninja  in red armor appeared. Then a great wooden dragon fighting the Nine-Tails and Eight Tails… It was a confusing barrage of images, though the one thing that came clear was that there were explosions _everywhere_.

 

 

> _“Unfortunately, most of the images we got of the Fourth Shinobi were confusing. We had no way of creating a timeline for the war, presumably because things were… chaotic. The fog of war, as they say. We were able to piece together at least a little bit of it, though what we know best came after the Ten-Tails was revived.”_

 

And then, the Ten-Tails was there, monstrously large, able to make the other Tailed Beasts (Tailed Beasts larger than houses!) seem miniscule in comparison. The appearance of the rest ninja forces was hardly a relief, compared to the size of their opponent.

Seeing so many shinobi working in concert - lightning, water, insects, wind, earth, another strange liquid… and then, fire? Seeing them work together _was_ inspiring, and yet it still wasn’t enough.

The Ten-Tails broke free, attacking again and again. The ninja forces fought back, and throughout it all were many Narutos, all throwing his superpowered jutsu at multiple giant hands, even as the hands were throwing spikes and tossing people around like they were nothing.

And then Lee gave a horrified yell. “Neji!!! No!”

Hardly anyone breathed as the screen filled with an image of Neji, spikes all through his back, blood dripping from his mouth. He was clearly saying his last words to a horrified Naruto and weeping Hinata.

And then Naruto was facing the Ten-Tails, hand-in-hand with Hinata, the now familiar golden glow seeping out and… encasing Hinata in a red shroud of chakra.

Sasuke felt a lump in his throat, watching. The Fourth Shinobi War, and where was he? He remembered Naruto’s words, back in the hospital. _You would ignore the start of the Fourth Shinobi War so long as it didn’t interfere with what you want._

Is that what happened? Would have happened? And why did it bother him so much, to see Naruto next to Hinata like that?

Before he could dwell on that any further, his attention was caught by a glowing light. Naruto, powered up again, was running through the ninja ranks… doing _something_ that covered every single ninja in the same red chakra that they’d seen on Hinata.

Whatever that red chakra meant, it seemed to strengthen the ninja alliance. More fighting,especially the Akimichi and Nara clans, more explosions, and the red-armored undead ninja formed some sort of giant glowing armored body.

And then Naruto’s glow started to fade - from everybody. The Ten-Tails was building up yet another one of those powerful balls of chakra. It seemed like maybe, this time, the ninja forces were finally tapped out.

And yet they still managed to work together, to slow the attack down. And then it… disappeared. And yet another undead ninja appeared. This one, the _Fourth Hokage_ ? _Third Hokage_ ? First _and_ Second? And why is the Fourth Hokage glowing like Naruto?

Everyone had heard that war was unpredictable, that it was hard to know what was going on at any given time, and that strange things happened. And yet a war full of plant men, dead ninjas, a giant chakra monster, and the timely appearance of all the previous Hokages seemed fantastical.

And that’s when Sasuke finally made his appearance.

Sasuke couldn’t help staring at this other self. Possible future self. He looked - cold. Almost cruel. His eyes dull and dark, like he was dead inside. And by the reactions of the other Konoha 12 on the screen, something was very, very wrong. And _what the hell was he wearing_? What was that rope- thing - around his waist?

Yet whatever was wrong with that other Sasuke, the real Sasuke couldn’t help feeling a sense of _rightness_ as Team 7 stepped up to the fight, together. He felt something warm inside at the sight of them together. Something _right_. Even Sakura… Sakura…

Ino must have noticed it as well. “What is that mark on your forehead?”

Sakura stared in wonder. “I- I did it! I really did it! Tsunade-shishou taught me how to do her ‘Strength of a Hundred Seal’. I’ve… I’ve only just started saving my chakra for it. Oh my god, I really did it! Err- will do it? Will be able to do it?”

All of Team 7 looked pretty badass, actually. A golden Naruto was throwing out whatever that jutsu was, Sasuke was tossing around a strange black flame, and Sakura was using her monstrous strength.

Despite all the shocks they had received so far, despite the clear craziness of trying to predict anything during the Fourth Shinobi War, the Konoha 12 still gasped in shock when the members of Team 7 simultaneously did the Summoning Technique - and summoned a giant toad, slug, and snake.

The import of those three summons wasn’t lost on anyone, though in retrospect it shouldn’t have been a surprise.They all knew Naruto had a contract with the Toads. Sakura had been training with Tsunada-sama. Really, the only shock was… well, Sasuke. _Where the hell did he learn to summon snakes?_ And what was up with his eyes?

The Konoha 12 were so engrossed in the video that they almost forgot the narrators, almost forgot that it wasn’t really a television show or movie.

 

 

> _The image flickered, clearly skipping over a large part of the battle. “Although reviewing what images we see can be useful in understanding our opponents capabilities” Gaara explained, “We wanted to make sure you knew the most important thing. Two things actually. First is that if they succeed at reviving the Ten-Tails they will try to cast an Infinite Tsukuyomi, if they succeed everyone under its control will live in a world of dreams. And their chakra will be drained into a giant tree.”_

 

Which sounded - a bit implausible - but explained the strange images on the screen. The undead ninja in red armor, transformed somehow into a less dead-looking ninja with white hair and a strange sharingan in the middle of his forehead, rose up into the air and did something to the moon. Sasuke invoked that glowing strange armored body, and used it to shelter Team 7. Giant tree roots rose from the ground and wrapped everyone else tightly, making them look like nothing so much as giant cocoons.

And then the scarred ninja, something black covering half his body, punched through the ninja with a sharingan in his forehead. Who began to- transform - and

Turned.

Into.

A.

White-haired.

Woman.

 

“What. The. Fuck.” Kiba spoke for everyone.

 

 

> _“This is, perhaps, the most important part. It’s critical that you understand this.” Gaara continued to narrate. “That black thing, called ‘Black Zetsu’, is trying to revive that woman, Kaguya. He manipulated the other ninjas into doing what he needed to resurrect her. The Infinite Tsukuyomi is horrible enough as it is, reviving Kaguya makes it even worse. We believe that even if we managed to stop Akatsuki, if we do it too carelessly Black Zetsu will slip away and just try again.”_
> 
> _“Stopping Black Zetsu is the first priority. Stopping the scarred ninja shown here is second. Destroying Akatsuki as a whole comes third. From what we could tell, in the future we showed you, we would have won. Eventually.”_
> 
> _An image appeared of Naruto and Sasuke, somehow missing an arm each, performing a jutsu together that caused the giant tree roots to sink back into the ground and freeing everyone from their cocoons._
> 
> _“We believe that the cost is too high, though. And that we can win without letting things go so far.”_

 

The watching ninjas nodded silently. Most of them had been sold on doing whatever it took to prevent this timeline when Asuma-sensei died. Watching the destruction of Konoha and the Fourth Shinobi War just solidified the feeling. And Neji…

Lee was sobbing and hugging Neji tightly as Neji grimaced with pain. “I won’t let you die, Neji!” Tenten looked like she agreed too much to chide Lee for his outburst.

 

 

> _The screen flickered to grey before clearing. Someone must have grabbed the camera, because the view swung back to Naruto, who was pulling his hand back from the seal on the wall._
> 
> _“So, uh… “ he rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish. “You saw how far Akatsuki was willing to go, and what they were capable of. I- I didn’t want them to believe I had any connection to Konoha, didn’t want to give them any reason to look for me there. Uh- “_
> 
> _“I actually asked Baa-chan to, well, declare me a missing-nin, you know? If there’s no connection to Konoha, there’d be no reason for them to look for me there. Baa-chan had a different plan, though. I won’t go into too much detail here, let’s just say that we’ve been training up for the last few years, working on our infiltration skills. When you’ve got the reserves of a jinchuriki and can create Shadow Clones, well… you can cram a LOT of training into a couple of years! Coming here was… well, it was sort of a graduation exercise.” Naruto gave a sheepish shrug. “You’ll probably see the results of that soon, if you haven’t already.”_
> 
> _“I’m sorry. Well, I’m not sorry we got to hang out with you guys! But I am sorry we couldn’t tell you who we were. Really, we shouldn’t be telling you_ now _, but we know and trust you guys. Plus, well, we’re going to give you some information as a bit of a failsafe, to make sure it can’t get swept under the rug. We hadn’t really planned on spending so much time around you, actually. Trying to maintain a cover around people who know you is kind of the hardest challenge there is.”_
> 
> _At this point, someone must have put the camera on a stand, because Gaara took a position next to Naruto, and Houtaru fluttered in behind them. “I blame Kiba!” she said with a laugh._
> 
> _Naruto grinned in agreement. “Yeah, if he hadn’t kidnapped me that first night… !”_
> 
> _He sobered up and continued. “Anyways. Thank you. We decided, given what you already seemed to have figured out, and the questions you had, and well… we_ knew _you guys were on our side, and you clearly can keep a secret… “_
> 
> _“We agreed to tell you what we were up to.” Gaara interjected._
> 
> _“Now that we’ve finished what we were here for, well- it’s time to do what we’ve been training for all along.”_
> 
> _“Thank you. I- I’m really I got to see you again.”_
> 
> _“Hopefully we’ll get the chance to see you again, this time as our real selves.” Houtaru added, as she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her teammates.”_
> 
> _“Thank you.” Gaara quietly added._

 

And with that, the video ended, leaving a rather stunned group of ninjas in its wake.

“They’re going after Black Zetsu.” Shikamaru finally broke the silence. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“That… that _idiot!!!_ ” Sakura finally said, crushing a cup that had the misfortune of being in her hand. “When he gets back here, I’m going to… I’m going to… “ she teared up before she could finish that statement.

“Umm, can we… watch it again?” Hinata blushed lightly.

After a few more nods, Shikamaru rewound the tape and started it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And kudos for fanficaddict65 to correctly guessing who was who!


	15. The Mission Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The results of Naruto's mission

Hours later, only Sasuke, Shikamaru and Hinata remained captivated by the video. At this point they were no longer shocked by the revelations inside, and were more focused on gleaning every scrap of intelligence they could - pausing, rewinding or slowing down the video to review particular areas of interest. 

The rest of the Konoha 12 were going through the paperwork in Houtaru’s scroll. From what they could tell, they had been given a copy of some sort of mission paperwork, but it didn’t appear to be Anbu or Hokage-authorized missions at all. Instead, they seemed to be authorized by Danzo, presumably for his Root agents. Most of what they found was disturbing, given the nature of the missions and the lack of official authorization. Danzo appeared to have an entire organization dedicated to supporting his interests and his alone, a stark challenge to the authority of the Hokage. Sasuke’s apartment was filled with a busy hum as everyone worked on their self-assigned tasks.

It took a while before Sasuke realized something was different. The background noise changed, the busy hum fading as the other ninjas grew quiet. It didn’t really ping on his awareness until he heard hushed but urgent whispers, and realized that Neji had pulled Shikamaru aside for something. When the video ended again, he turned to see most of his friends gathered at the door. 

Shino approached Sasuke and in an unusual display of affection placed a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder. “Neji has something you need to hear. Just remember, most of us are clan heirs and the children of clan heads. We support you, and together we can change things.”

Sasuke wasn’t sure what to make of that, especially when he saw everyone else nod in agreement. “Call us, we’ll help you plan.” Ino added.

One by one, they turned to go, leaving Neji behind.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in silent enquiry.

“I- I hated the head family for a very long time.” Neji looked uncomfortable, but somehow determined. “After Naruto defeated me, I learned something that… well. It was hard to hear, and it changed my perspective on a number of things. I- When you’re done reading this, well, let me know what you want. I can leave if you want, or call everyone back... whatever you decide.” And he handed Sasuke a stack of papers.

Sasuke felt a sick feeling in his stomach even before he started to read. The title of the report - ‘The Uchiha Coup’ - only made his suspicions worse, and he slowly sank onto his couch.

_ A coup? What- ?  _ The report contained evidence of weapon stockpiling and secret clan meetings. Whoever the source was alleged that the meeting discussed an Uchiha coup. Sasuke remembered how insistent his father had been that Itachi attend a clan meeting.  _ Was that… ? _

He read through the collected evidence, face growing grim as the evidence piled up. The Uchiha clan had been planning a coup. His _father_ had been planning a coup. And given the tension before the Uchiha massacre, he was fairly certain Itachi knew about it as well. But Sasuke knew that a coup hadn’t happened, knew that Itachi had slaughtered everyone. _So why-_ _?_

He  had to stop and re-read the last sentence, the simple words somehow refusing to make sense. 

‘Uchiha threat eliminated by Anbu Weasel.’

Anbu. Weasel. 

Itachi. 

His hands were shaking even as he noticed a note at the bottom, written with a precise hand. 

‘Per agreement with Weasel, no attempt will be made to recruit the surviving Uchiha.’

The note was talking about  _ him _ . Danzo. Root. The ones who made Sai… well, Sai. The writing blurred and the paper grew damp. Sasuke felt a deep well of emotion rising, the grief he’d been using as fuel for vengeance finally breaking through like a flood. 

_ Itachi...  _

 

********************************

 

When Sasuke was able to think clearly again, he remembered what Shino had said, remembered their promise of support. And… Houtaru’s request that he talk to the Hokage suddenly made sense. When he was ready he called his friends back- to plan. 

Most of the discussion centered around how much the Hokage already knew - the current one, as well as her predecessor. 

“If Itachi was actually loyal to Konoha, then why is he with Akatsuki?” Ino wore a puzzled frown.

Shikamaru hummed. “When you think about it - Itachi could just as easily have killed Kakashi and Sasuke.”

“You think he was trying not to harm them?” Sakura said with disbelief.

“I don’t know. I’m just saying there were more lethal things he could have done.”

Ino snorted. “What he did was harmful enough, though. Kakashi was in a hospital for at least a month! And Sasuke!”

“Yeah, but they weren’t physically wounded in any way.”

“We Yamanaka know better than anyone - mental wounds can be just as bad as physical ones. Worse, even! I’d rather be beaten black and blue then hit with a genjutsu like that!”

“I’m not saying you’re wrong” Shikamaru made a placating gesture. “It’s just… if he’s loyal to Konoha but working with Akatsuki, then he’d be like a… a double agent or something. Which means he had to be violent enough not to cause anyone to get suspicious. And it was probably not just to keep his cover.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if he went easy on Sasuke, that meant someone in Akatsuki - an organization full of S-class criminals - might see Sasuke as a tool to use against Itachi.”

“But… they were in comas! For weeks! Surely he could have cast a genjutsu that was… less harmful?”

Shikamaru took one look at Sasuke’s white face, and changed the subject. 

“Anyways, whether he’s a double agent or not, we definitely need to find out what the Hokage knows before we go any further.”

A knock on the door silenced them, and the gathered ninjas looked at each other with surprise. They were all there and accounted for, who could be knocking?

As host and the person anyone knocking would most likely want to see, Sasuke made his way to the door. And promptly stared at the waiting Anbu.

“The Hokage requests your presence.”

Sasuke glanced at his friends, uncertain what the Hokage wanted, or whether he was ready to deal with whatever it was.

Shikamaru gave him a nod. “Go on. We’ll be right behind you.”

 

********************************

 

Tsunade’s face was stern and she looked tired.

Not that Sasuke had any sympathy for that. He wasn’t sure what she had called him in for, but he knew he wasn’t ready to face her. Not if…

She silently studied him, her hands clasped together in front of her face. A gambling token strung on a chain around her neck.

“Naruto said he gave you a copy of what he found.” She paused and gave him a searching gaze. “You know?”

Sasuke gave a tight nod.

Her gaze softened slightly, and almost seemed - sympathetic. “Well, that saves me a bit of trouble, I guess. Have a seat.” She waved at a chair.

Sasuke started to protest, but she stared him down. “Sit. This may take a while.”

“Did you know?” his voice sounded harsh to his own ears.

“No.” She shook her head. “Danzo has been arrested and is facing trial. For bloodline-theft, among other things.”

“Bloodline theft?”

Tsunade’s lips quirked with distaste. “Bloodline theft. He had multiple sharingans embedded in his arm, and one in his eye.”

“How… ?”

“Naruto’s team captured him with some sort of seal, and cut off his arm. He’s now in custody, and probably… with the evidence we have now… will be sentenced to death.”

That was- something. Sasuke supposed you could even call it justice. But there was a difference between justice and vengeance, and Sasuke wasn’t sure this was enough. Still, it was good to know the current Hokage wasn’t going to protect Danzo.

“And… Itachi?” 

She looked pensive for a moment. “That will be… difficult.”

“Why? If he was following orders… he should be allowed to come back.” Needed to come back. Now that Sasuke allowed himself to think of his brother with more than just hatred, allowed himself to remember the brother he used to know, he missed his brother. Missed having  _ family _ . And apparently, he still had one.

Tsunade poured herself a shot of sake and downed it. “Want one?” she offered.

“I- “ Sasuke didn’t know what to say. He’d never turned to drink before, but it sounded surprisingly appealing. Perhaps too appealing. “Not right now.” 

Tsunade shrugged, and poured herself another.

“I recently learned that Itachi was… well, he’s been Jiraiya’s source on Akatsuki. Announcing that he’s welcome back home could be- “ she paused, and picked her words carefully, “hazardous to his health. Plus, he’s in a position to do something important, right now. We need him where he is.”

It wasn’t what Sasuke wanted to hear, but given Shikamaru’s speculations it wasn’t exactly a surprise, either.

“However,” That word dangled in front of Sasuke like a lifeline. “There may be a way to… exfiltrate Itachi.”

Sasuke didn’t even hesitated. “I want to be a part of it.” 

She gazed at him just a little bit longer. “For what I have in mind, you’d be essential for it.”

“What do I need to do?”

“If you attacked Itachi, gave the impression you were still out for revenge, together the two of you might be able to fake his death. It would allow him to leave Akatsuki without anyone the wiser.”

It sounded - difficult - and Sasuke was sure he ought to think about it further, but he couldn’t pass up the chance. Couldn’t lose the chance to see his brother again without even trying.

“I’m in.”

“It will not be easy,” Tsunade warned him. “I can’t exactly station Konoha ninjas nearby without looking suspicious.”

The mulish look on Sasuke’s face was answer enough.

“In order to make this look real, you’ll have to leave Konoha for a bit. The cover story will be that you left to train with someone… questionable.”

Sasuke nodded. “Who would I train with?”

A quick flicker of disdain crossed Tsunade’s face. “Orochimaru.”

_ Orochimaru?!? _ Sasuke was determined to do whatever he needed to, but… Orochimaru?

“Isn’t he an enemy of the village?”

“Due to certain… events… we have agreed to an… alliance.” Tsunade didn’t look happy about that, at all. 

Sasuke put together what he’d learned from Naruto with what Tsunade was saying. He supposed the imminent end of the world would be cause for an alliance. After all, Orochimaru wouldn’t want the entire world stuck in an Infinite Tsukuyomi any more than the rest of them. Probably. Maybe.

“You- trust him?” Sasuke finally asked.

“Not really, or rather, I trust him to keep his word. I just don’t trust him not to find a way of doing whatever suits his purposes without breaking his word. He’s very good at twisting things around.”

Before Sasuke spoke again, he found himself thinking of his team. Sakura and Sai, and even Kakashi. 

“What about Team 7?” 

Tsunade looked slightly pleased at his question. “Sai will be busy for a while, helping us clean up after Danzo. And Sakura’s my apprentice, I still have much to teach her and she’ll be putting it all into practice at the hospital.”

“Can I tell them what I’m doing?”

“Since Naruto’s chosen to bring the Konoha 12 in, yes. We’ve been keeping everything we’re doing with the jinchuriki tightly held for a while now, but given what you and your friends appear to know already… “ again, a pensive stare, “I may have a use for you. All of you.”

She raised her voice so it could be heard outside the room, “The rest of you might as well get in here now.”

The door opened, and the rest of the Konoha 12 filed into the room, a strange mix of determination and uncertainty in every line of their bodies.

“Everyone else, clear out” she commanded. 

“Tsunade-sama!” an Anbu protested.

“OUT!”

Once the Anbu cleared the room, she activated some privacy seals and sat back.

“Tell me everything,” she commanded.

Shikamaru must have decided it was useless to try and hide anything from the Hokage, as he took the lead and explained everything.

When he finished, Tsunade looked pleased. “I’m impressed, not just with what you have discovered, but with how long you’ve been able to keep it a secret. Naruto’s status as a jinchuriki is an S-class secret, his parentage is also classified. He hadn’t known it himself until this whole vision-thing, “ she waved her hand in a slight circle “happened. Naruto gave me a report after finishing this mission, and mentioned that he suspected you knew he was a jinchuriki. Looks like he didn’t know half of what you’ve figured out.” 

She gave a predatory smile. “Which is good, it speaks highly of your ability to keep things secret. I imagine the only reason he figured as much as he did out was because of what he already knew, and how familiar he was with all of you.”

“Hokage-sama,” Shikamaru decided being ultra-formal wouldn’t hurt. “What happens now?”

“It’s a good thing you all did well during the Chunin Exams.” she smiled unpleasantly. “With what you’ve uncovered, and your performance there, it won’t be hard at all to make you all Chunin. And then,” she continued. “I can grant you the appropriate clearances. I’ll make sure Masahiro knows, he can bring you up to date on everything. And then… “ she paused. “I will use you, all of you.”

A thrill went through every one of them at that promise. Or threat. Finally, something they could  _ do. _


	16. A Tea Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke and Hinata have tea

The meeting with the Hokage had settled a few things, but it still took a few weeks to work out the details. Which Sasuke was fine with, as it let him deal with the massive information dump he’d recently received. He still felt disturbingly  _ raw _ at times, emotions welling up at odd times so that it took all his self-control to continue acting normal. His friends were working hard, nervous about the upcoming events but ready to do their part. Shikamaru kept getting pulled out for planning sessions of some sort. They didn’t have the full details yet, but they trusted whatever he came up with would be appropriately brilliant. 

His friends knew what he was planning to do, and gave him their whole hearted support. Perhaps the most surprising change, though, was his relationship with Hinata. He knew her, of course, they’d been part of the same group for years now. But her quiet and reserved personality meant that he hardly ever talked with her before, and he couldn’t help feeling a bit - uncomfortable - at how much time she’d spent with Naruto under his Souta disguise. In her own quiet way, though, she had reached out to him and despite some misgivings he found himself actually liking her company. He couldn’t really hate her, it was too much like hating a kitten. Or, he silently corrected himself, like hating a lion cub.

Which is why he was only mildly surprised when Hinata invited him to join her for tea. She’d selected a public teahouse known for its privacy, and so even though Sasuke wasn’t sure why she had invited him he wasn’t really surprised when Hinata activated her own privacy seals after they had been served. 

He sipped his tea and eyed her curiously.

“I suppose you are wondering why I invited you here.” A slight tilt to her lips indicated gentle amusement.

At his nod, she continued.

“I wanted to discuss what will happen when you meet Naruto-kun again.”

Sasuke almost choked on his tea.  _ When _ he met Naruto? Why was she so certain that was going to happen? And… and everyone knew about Hinata’s feelings for Naruto. Did she want him to pass a message or something? The thought disturbed him, though he did his best to hide it.

“You’re going after Itachi, who is currently with Akatsuki. Naruto-kun, as far as we can tell, is going after Akatsuki. I would be highly surprised if you  _ didn’t _ run into him at some point.”

That… made sense. But why is Hinata bringing this up?

She tilted her head slightly and continued. “Tell me, in all the times Sakura and Ino fought over you, did any of their wins or losses make you fall in love with them?”

He couldn’t help but snort.

“Precisely,” she gave a gentle laugh.

“I love Sakura and Ino dearly, but they had a very immature view of love.”

Sasuke’s facial expression barely changed, but Hinata had grown familiar enough to correctly read his silent question.

“Ah, how do I explain? Forgive me, I’m afraid the only way I can think of will bring up some bad memories.”

That sounded… ominous. But now Sasuke was curious, and he made a motion for her to continue.

“Who did you love more, your mother or your father?”

The softly spoken question slammed into him like a sledgehammer. And yet… and yet he knew she hadn’t wanted to hurt him, which meant there was something important behind her question.

He thought about his father. About all the times he’d wanted his acknowledgement. His attention. The warm feeling he got when his father finally said ‘That’s my boy.’ And he thought about his mother, cheerful. Caring. Putting medicine on his face after he’d burned himself practicing the Great Fireball Technique. How could he compare the two? How could he possibly value one more than the other? Both were important, in very different ways.

“That - you can’t ask that sort of thing.”

Hinata calmly nodded. “Love isn’t something you can measure, or weigh, or compare like that. Oh, sure, people have some basis for comparison. Mostly to distinguish between the people they are closest to - family, friends - versus people they hardly know. And love is… organic. It grows stronger when nourished, and weaker when it’s not. So people compare their feelings for someone to their previous feelings  _ for that same person _ all the time. But for the people closest to us, the ones who’ve truly found a place in our hearts, we can’t compare and weigh our feelings like that. 

“Some of the worst tragedies in the world, after all, come when someone is forced to make an impossible choice, such as deciding between two people they care about.”

Sasuke still felt off-balance, uncertain about why they were even talking about this.

“There are a lot of different types of love, too.” Hinata continued. “Love for a parent, love for a teammate. Love for a husband or wife. We all know that our genin teammates have a deep place in our hearts, even if we don’t marry them, true?”

Sasuke slowly nodded.

“We would risk our lives for our teammates, without even thinking about it.”

Sasuke remembered when he’d jumped in front of all those senbons targeting Naruto. He thought about Sakura, and Sai, how he had felt when Gaara transformed into the One-Tails, and couldn’t help agreeing.

“And so you love your teammates, too. Oh, maybe not the way Sakura used to want,” she waved her hand dismissively, “but it’s a form of love, all the same.”

If you wanted to define love that way, then Sasuke couldn’t really argue any different.

“It’s like that with Kiba and Shino,” she continued.

“And what’s funny is that I can say I love Kiba for his confidence, his energy, and his loyalty. And that I love Shino for his calmness, his soothing presence, his steadfastness… and both would be true. Even though some of those traits are almost the complete opposite of each other.

“Kiba wouldn’t be Kiba if he tried being cool and calm like Shino, and a loud Shino would just be… wrong. They each have their place in my heart, and that place is unique to them.”

Sasuke had never thought about love to such a degree before, and he didn’t know what to say.

Hinata calmly sipped her tea, as if she hadn’t just thrown him into the deep end.

“We love all sorts of people, for all sorts of reasons, and nobody can ever take another person’s spots in our hearts. It’s also not a… ” she paused, searching for the right words, “finite thing. Growing to care for one person doesn’t mean we care for others any less. It’s more like the heart grows, expands so there’s always room for one more. The real problem comes from limitations on… “ she seemed to pick the words carefully. “Our ability to nourish those feelings.”

Again, Hinata seemed to sense his unspoken question.

“Most people probably think of it in terms of time, since spending time together often leads to experiences that strengthen a relationship. 

“But we’re all ninja, we’ve all had missions that have gone on for months. In Naruto’s case, you could even say years. For some people, that’s enough to destroy the relationship - like failing to give a plant water or sunlight. 

“Not always, though.”

Hinata hesitated before continuing.

“Some people care more about the quality of their interaction. That’s part of why genin teams can stay close even after they’ve stopped taking missions together. Genin teams are close in part because they share so many of each other’s firsts. First mission. First kill. First mission to go badly… “ her voice trailed off for a moment.

“It’s also part of why ‘you were the first to know’ is such a powerful statement,” she finally continued.

“Regardless of what you do to keep a relationship strong, there are limits to how many people you can do those things with. There is only so much time in a day for you to choose who to spend with, you can only let one person be ‘the first to know’ something. And so even though the heart may grow to love more than one person, it’s very hard to do the things that nourish those feelings for more than a few.”

She poured more tea. 

“Each relationship is different, and has different needs. Some people might be okay with seeing each other once a year. Others need to see each other more often. The quality of the interaction matters, too. Someone might be okay with only seeing their friend once a year, or decade, if they know that the time they do have together is especially meaningful.

“Since each relationship is different, the people involved have to figure out for themselves what’s acceptable and what isn’t. You have to figure out what you want from it and communicate that, listen to what the other person wants in turn, and then determine whether or not it’s mutually acceptable.”

Hinata gave a delicate laugh. “That all makes it sound far more complicated than it really is, most of the time our friendships flows rather naturally, without even thinking about it. Really, the important part is that you should know what you want from another person, and what they can expect from you - whether as a friend, a husband or wife, or even just an acquaintance. Only you, and the other person of course, can decide what’s the appropriate expression of your feelings for each other.”

“And that’s why I brought up Naruto-kun.”

Sasuke waited, the warmth from his cup seeping into his hand.

“I love Naruto-kun.”

Sasuke’s throat closed up at that simple statement, though it came as no surprise.

“I know what I want from him,” she continued.

“When he was here - as Souta - well, he made it clear it was only for a little while. At the time, given his cover, he said it was because of the Chunin Exams. But… even though he didn’t give me his real reasons, he was honest in saying that he was only in town for the exams. Or, well, his mission during the exams. 

“I believe he is too busy with Akatsuki to think about anything long term right now. As you know, taking a mission that could kill you can… change your perspective on things.”

She paused to take another sip.

“I suspect that will change when Akatsuki is finally defeated. And when that happens, if I still feel the way I do about him, then there’ll be time to figure out whether what I want from him and what he wants from me is… something we both want.”

That sounded an awful lot like Hinata was planning to date Naruto whenever he came back. Why was she telling him this?

“You love him. And he feels something for you, too.” Hinata acted as though she hadn’t just shattered Sasuke’s world. He…  _ loved _ Naruto? Sure, he’d taken a hit for the idiot. Almost died. He’d just acknowledged, if only to himself, that he loved his teammates. He hadn’t meant it like  _ that, _ though. Had he? 

Wait, she never said it was like  _ that, _ either. 

And she thought Naruto felt something for him? How could she tell? What did that even mean?

She waved a graceful hand. “You, all of the Konoha 12, are people I love.” She hmmed slightly. “We’re taught not to say it like that, though. I suppose the more common form is to say that I ‘care deeply about you all’, or that ‘you’re all my precious people’.”

She gazed at him with deceptive sweetness as she drove in the nail. “That includes you, Sasuke.”

Sasuke sat there, frozen, cup of tea halfway up. Lion cub? No, Hinata was a full grown lioness now.

“As someone who loves you, and loves Naruto-kun, well… please. Don’t miss the chance to figure out what you mean to each other. And what you want from each other.”

That was… disturbing and strangely warming in turns. 


	17. The Snake's Den

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It begins.

Konoha, as per the plan, soon started spreading rumors of Sasuke’s defection, as he left Konoha for the dubious privilege of training with Orochimaru. He found himself in a bar in an unremarkable small town, waiting. He’d been told that someone would meet him there, a contact who would take him to Orochimaru’s lair. As he sipped the awful local beer, he quelled his doubts. The last time he saw the Sannin and how easily Orochimaru had defeated his team during the Chunin Exams. Worse, Orochimaru had clearly been  _ toying _ with them. 

And then there was the curse mark. Sure, it had been removed… the same week Naruto had left the village. The fact that Kakashi  _ knew _ something had happened to his curse mark had made him suspicious, though his sensei was frustratingly vague. Still, Sasuke had been unable to shake the belief that Naruto had been involved somehow.

Which was all fine and dandy, he’d been curse-mark free for years now, but he still remembered how-  _ different _ he had been under its influence. And now he was about to walk into the lair of the one who’d put it there.

At least he’d had time to get his head straight about other things - the whirlwind of revelations regarding Naruto, the future, and his brother. He had questions, thousands of questions, but he had a purpose now. A direction. He was determined to get his brother back, and if that meant walking into the snake’s den, then he’d walk in with his head held high.

Someone sat down in the seat next to Sasuke. “Well, aren’t you an interesting one.” There was a challenging note in his voice.

Sasuke quietly studied the stranger, a young man with bluish white hair, purple eyes, and pointed teeth. 

“My name’s Suigetsu” he gave a predatory grin. “I’ll show you where we’re going.”

Sasuke eyes narrowed, but he nodded his assent.

“Talkative one, aren’t you? I wonder what he wants with you. Do you have any special powers? Abilities?‘

Sasuke ignored Suigetsu’s chatter as they left the bar and jumped into the surrounding forest. He suppressed any hint of nervousness as they slowed down and approached a rock wall where Suigetsu revealed a cleverly hidden entrance. 

Inside was a long stone tunnel, torches the only adornment. Eventually it opened into a large room with a number of doors leading out of it.

“I’m not going to bother giving you a tour right now,” Suigetsu said. “That door leads to Orochimaru’s labs” he nodded to a door on the right.

“The middle one will take you to the common area. Dining room, kitchen, training grounds, that sort of thing. It’s not a lot, but it’s pretty much the only place to be when you’re sick of your room and not caught up in one of Orochimaru’s experiments.”

“Living quarters are to the left. There’s a lot of empty ones, and the ones in use should be locked. Just pick one, the key will be on the desk.” Suigetsu casually waved in that direction. “That’s pretty much it. I’m off, catch you around!” 

He disappeared, leaving Sasuke by himself.

Sasuke shrugged and headed towards the leftmost door. He wanted to find a room and drop his pack off before figuring out the rest. The first few doors were locked, so he moved on. He finally found a couple of rooms that were empty except for a bed, desk and chair. None of them seemed any better than any of the others, so he mentally shrugged and took one a few doors down from the last occupied room. After unpacking his gear, he decided to investigate the rest of the base. The training facilities sounded interesting. The labs, on the other hand, held no particular appeal.

He wandered down the hall and back into the entrance hall. He could hear faint sounds of talking to the right, but ignored it in order to find the training facilities. 

The middle door revealed yet another long hall. An open door to the right revealed a kitchen full of gleaming appliances. Next to it was a fairly large dining room. He idly wondered who stocked the fridge, and cooked. It’s not the sort of thing you think about when it comes to S-class criminals, but they all have to eat somehow. 

A few more doors down, and he found the training grounds. Again, it appeared well-stocked - there were training dummies, targets, weapons racks, and more - all just waiting to be used. Whatever he thought about Orochimaru, the Sannin clearly believed in providing everything his people needed.

He suddenly got the feeling that he wasn’t alone.

“I see you have found the training facilities,” Orochimaru paused slightly, “Sasuke-kun.” He drew Sasuke’s name out, making it both a promise and a threat. Sasuke remembered the Forest of Death, the way the snake-like Sannin peeled off someone else’s skin, and hid a shudder. 

Orochimaru had given him that blasted curse mark at the time, tempting him with promises of power. Of revenge.  _ Against Itachi, and doesn’t that seem like a waste now? But back then… back then it was tempting. More tempting than I want to admit. _

Sasuke glared at Orochimaru. “Why are you willing to train me?” The question had preyed on his mind ever since he’d agreed to this. Orochimaru had wanted him, back then, and  eventually he’d learned why. Learned that Orochimaru wanted a new body, and wanted his for the sharingan he carried. What had changed? Why was the Sannin being… helpful.”

“Saa, Tsunade is training your pink-haired teammate and Jiraiya has the jinchuriki.” Orochimaru almost slithered into the room, walking around Sasuke in a way that seemed- predatory.

“Why wouldn’t I want the chance for a student of my own? To train the third team member, and put my mark on the next generation of Sannin.” It was possible, Sasuke supposed. But the malicious teasing in Orochimaru’s voice hinted at some  _ other _ reason, his voice reminding Sasuke of things that slither and crawl through the dark.

“I don’t have your curse mark anymore.” Sasuke verbally jabbed at the Sannin, testing out his opponent.

Orochimaru waved a hand dismissively. “I no longer have an interest in you. Not for that, at least.”

“Why?” Sasuke had had enough of Orochimaru’s game.

“I was promised something I wanted more. You’ve heard about the jutsu the jinchuriki used?” Orochimaru watched Sasuke carefully, his eyes gleaming with dark amusement. 

Sasuke gave a cautious nod.

“Saaa, and how much did they tell you, of your role in that other future?” 

Sasuke blanked his face, trying to hide the questions whirling through his mind. He’d seen himself in that other future, after all. Seen himself with dead eyes, the looks of wariness on his friends faces. Seen himself summoning a giant snake into battle. He had his suspicions, had questions. And it sounded like the Sannin knew the answers, damn him.

Orochimaru must have seen something, despite Sasuke’s attempt at hiding it, because he gave a smile full of malice. “It appears they didn’t tell you…  _ everything _ , did they? Sasuke-kun?”

“I don’t care about that,” Sasuke insisted, knowing it was a lie. “All I want is to get Itachi back.”

Orochimaru threw his head back and laughed. “Ah, Itachi. Only a few years ago you were determined to kill your brother, and now you want to save him. Don’t worry, Sasuke-kun. I made an agreement, and I always fulfill my promises.”

Which is what worried Sasuke. Orochimaru, oddly enough, appeared to keep his promises. But like demons of legend, you had to carefully check any such agreement thoroughly. The snake-like Sannin seemed quite capable of slithering through any loopholes and twisting contracts to serve his own purposes.

Sasuke stifled a sigh of relief as the Sannin turned to leave. He tensed back up when Orochimaru paused at the door. 

“We’ll start your training tomorrow, Sasuke-kun. I look forward to seeing just how far you’ll go.”

And with that, Orochimaru disappeared.

 

********************************

 

Studying under Orochimaru was like nothing Sasuke had ever done before. He had a routine of sorts, training on his own every morning, and whenever the Sannin was available. Since Orochimaru kept strange hours, Sasuke never knew exactly when he would be called, or what he would be doing, but he supposed the uncertainty was a form of training in and of itself. He had to be ready for whatever Orochimaru threw at him, whether that was at 2 in the morning or 7 at night. 

He also got to know some of Orochimaru’s other employees - he’d already met Suigetsu, and Kabuto, but there was also a red-headed woman named Karin as well as a few others. He wasn’t surprised to see Kabuto there, his loyalty to Orochimaru had been revealed a while back, though he was grateful that the white-haired medic spent most of his time assisting Orochimaru with his research. Something about the medic struck him as - wrong, somehow. His unassuming appearance and helpful attitude were at odds with what Sasuke now knew. While Kabuto was most often found working in the lab, the rest of them generally took turns running errands and doing chores like buying supplies, cooking meals, and helping out with whatever research Orochimaru was doing.

From what the others said, that last task had become easier in the past year or two. Something about getting approval from an Ethical Committee or something, though it boggled Sasuke’s mind how or why Orochimaru would ever work with such an organization. 

Orochimaru also seemed like a surprisingly decent employer. He might push everyone hard, but he also made sure they had time off for rest and relaxation.

When it came to training Sasuke, Orochimaru proved he deserved the title of Sannin. His speed, knowledge of jutsus, and experience meant that he regularly kicked Sasuke’s ass. Still, despite repeated losses Sasuke could tell he was improving, especially in the use of his chidori. 

Orochimaru also seemed surprisingly knowledgeable on the mangekyo sharingan, though Sasuke was careful not to ask how.

And then there were the snake summons. Although there were elements of that he wasn’t comfortable with - Sasuke had no intention of feeding Manda, the boss snake, any human sacrifices - he could see the benefits, and it felt sort of right to learn the skill he would have had in that other future.

So Sasuke trained, took his turn running errands, and studied jutsus in Orochimaru’s extensive library. He also had time - given how little there was to do in the lair besides train -  to reflect on everything he’d learned in the last couple of months. 

The big one, of course, was Itachi. Always Itachi. It made him angry that his brother tried hiding this from him. Had left him filled with hatred for him. Sure, that rage had driven him to train hard and grow stronger… but now all his drive, his purpose in life, seemed in doubt. If he no longer needed to kill Itachi, what was left?

And then there was Konoha… Konoha, that had used Itachi to murder his clan. And yet, that decision did not reflect all of Konoha. Whatever Danzo and the Third Hokage had done, he knew and trusted his friends. And he believed Tsunade when she said she hadn’t known, which meant that even though thinking about what had happened made him mad, he didn’t know what to do with that anger. Danzo had been arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. Sasuke had his justice, he supposed, hollow though it made him feel.

He held to Shino’s promise, to the idea that he and his friends could make a better village. That whatever darkness the village had held in the past, he and his friends could make sure the future was brighter.

And through all of it, interwoven inseparably, was Naruto. Naruto, who had given him Itachi back. Naruto, who had made sure he knew the truth  _ before _ he went out and killed his brother. He didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if he’d learned the truth afterwards. He had his suspicions as to why his alternate self had ended up the way he had.

Naruto, who’s decisions had impacted Sasuke in so many ways, even though he had been gone for  _ years. _

Naruto. Who Hinata said he loved, which - he couldn’t exactly dispute, though he wasn’t sure how much he truly knew Naruto now. There had been so many secrets, so many changes, how could he really know?

He wondered what Naruto had been doing, what sort of training he’d gone through. He had infiltrated Konoha so easily - what led to that level of skill? He knew about infiltration missions, knew some of what it did to ninjas. Hell, look at Kabuto - playing the friendly medic while spying for Orochimaru. People often focused on the glamour and mystique, but infiltration missions basically meant that you spent all your time lying to the people closest to you, making friends - and sometimes even lovers - on the basis of deception. It was really hard to keep your own sense of identity, to keep your mouth shut and not give away the game, and that level of deception did something to the people who lived it. In some ways, he was somewhat relieved that Naruto and his team had made that video… it meant that they really weren’t able to keep the masquerade up in front of all his former friends. But how many of those types of missions has Naruto done, and how much had it changed him from the teammate he used to know?

In some ways, he was grateful to be away from Konoha. Grateful to have the time to think, grateful for the distance - emotionally as well as physically - that let him sort through his bewildering feelings. He didn’t know who he was without his desire for revenge, didn’t have a purpose any more. Well, that’s not quite true. He was determined to get Itachi back, and that was enough. For now. 

Konoha could wait until this was all over, especially now that Danzo was dead, the counselors who had gone along with him discredited and replaced. 

And as for Naruto - Hinata seemed certain he would see him again.


	18. Research and Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orochimaru hires some musicians

Sasuke wondered why in hell Orochimaru had requested _musicians_ , of all things. Sure, the base could get kind of boring. There were only so many times you could play poker, especially with people like Suigetsu and Karin. And training, tough though it was, didn’t actually take up his entire day, he’d injure himself if he tried.

Still - musicians? Why would musicians agree to come, anyway? And what sort of music would they play? He supposed it fit in with Orochimaru’s general method of managing employees. Sure, the Sannin would easily throw them away if he needed to, but there was a reason Orochimaru inspired an almost slavish loyalty. If you could get past his willingness to do almost anything in the name of research.

Regardless of how strange it seemed, Orochimaru had hired musicians, and it was Sasuke’s turn to meet visitors and escort them to the base. The meetup was in a different location than Sasuke’s, they tried to alternate which village they used as yet another security measure. Going five villages over for groceries was kind of tiresome, but he understood the need.

He spotted his contacts almost immediately, the cases for their musical instruments a dead giveaway. A dark-haired man and a red-headed woman, both dressed in black leather, with their hair done in multiple tiny braids.  He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised by the… makeup they were sporting. It looked a little like Kankuro's warpaint, thick lines forming a geometric pattern on their faces. _Definitely musicians_.

“Sasuke Uchiha” he announced himself to them. “I’ll be your guide.”

The dark haired man gave him a broad grin and stood up, slinging a guitar case over his shoulder. As he got closer Sasuke could tell that the man’s eyes were a vibrant green. “I’m Kaito, and she’s Kotone” he jerked a thumb towards his partner. “We’re ready whenever you are.”

“Hn.”

Sasuke silently studied the musicians as he led them to Orochimaru’s lair. They moved with an easy grace, striding confidently down the road. Kaito turned to say something to Kotone, giving Sasuke a good view of his profile, and Sasuke blinked.

He listened to their idle chatter as he led them through the woods, since they were supposedly musicians he could hardly take them through the trees. _Tch_.

They’d reached the base and he let them pick out their rooms before he finally decided to end the farce. “So you’re a musician now, _Naruto_?” he watched ‘Kaito’ expectantly.

Kaito - no, definitely Naruto - turned to him with a wide grin. “Hey Sasuke! What gave me away?”

Sasuke smirked. “As if you could ever fool me.”

“Yeah right, you bastard! It took you ages to figure it out last time!”

“I didn’t know you’d be wearing a disguise, so I wasn’t looking then. I saw through your disguise eventually.”

“It lasted long enough to do the job,” Naruto’s grin showed there was no real heat to their exchange.

Sasuke smirked at his friend, surprised at how easily they had fallen into friendly banter. It felt - odd. Good, but odd. He hadn’t seen Naruto in _years_ , at least not until the Chunin Exams. And that hardly counted since he hadn’t even known it was Naruto until the very end.

“How long are you staying?”

Naruto gave an easy shrug. “I’m not sure, that depends on a few things. But hey, maybe we can spar a bit while I’m here!” Even though his hair was now black, his eyes green, Sasuke would recognize that brilliant smile anywhere.

“I think not,” a sibilant voice interjected before Sasuke agreed. Orochimaru came gliding down the hall, an amused expression on his face.

“Awww, why not?” Naruto pouted.

“Knowing what you and Sasuke-kun are capable of, I have no desire to have my lab destroyed while you are here. Considering what I am about to be busy with, I don’t think you want that either.

Orochimaru held out his hand. “You have the sample?”

Fu, at least Sasuke was fairly certain that was her name, reached into a pouch and handed a small vial to Orochimaru. Sasuke got a glimpse of some sort of black liquid before it disappeared into Orochimaru’s sleeves.

“Saaa, I will be a bit - preoccupied - with this, so do please forgive my poor hospitality.” Sasuke felt Orochimaru’s silent laughter. “Feel free to entertain yourselves, so long as you don’t interrupt my work.”

Once Orochimaru left, Sasuke raised an eyebrow and glanced at Naruto.

“Tailed Beast Mode?”

Naruto grinned and threw a thumbs up. “Believe it! Susanoo?”

Sasuke nodded.

“Huh,” Naruto sobered up a bit at the confirmation. “Does that mean you got the Mangekyo? How’d that happen?”

“ _You_ , you idiot. Who the hell decides to stand still for a sword to the gut?”

Something flickered across Naruto’s face before he shrugged. “I knew I could take it. I heal pretty fast.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sure, they’d initially begun bantering like old, but he couldn’t shake the awareness that things were _different_ now. Naruto was different, he was different… and he wasn’t sure what to make of it. Hinata’s voice whispered in the back of his mind. _Figure out what you mean to each other. And what you want from each other._

“So what do you want to do, now?” Naruto asked.

Fu glanced between Sasuke and Naruto. “I don’t know about you guys, but I want to settle in and relax for a bit.” She gave Naruto a quick peck on the cheek and left. “Check in with me in a couple of hours if you want!”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed. “You seem very close.”

“They’re a part of me,” Naruto spoke fondly. “We’ve been through so much together.”

For some reason, Sasuke couldn’t breathe. He’d known Naruto was close to his team, he could tell by their casual comfort with each other, the familiarity Gaara and Fu displayed on the video. His throat grew tight.

“But,” Naruto gave Sasuke a wide smile, “they’re not Team 7.”

Sasuke thought about the current Team 7 - Sakura, Kakashi, and now Sai. He liked his current team, he trusted them to know what they were doing, and to have his back. And even though Sai wasn’t Naruto, couldn’t replace Naruto, even though they were different now, he loved his team. But it was _different_ from how they used to be, and he’d… yes. He’d loved the old Team 7, too.

Maybe Hinata was on to something.

Something else was bothering Sasuke, though. Something he had to ask while Naruto was standing there, in front of him.

“Naruto, you didn’t tell us everything about your visions, did you?”

Naruto grew sheepish and rubbed the back of his head, the familiarity of that nervous gesture jarring in his current guise.

“Yeah, well, some of it wasn’t really relevant anymore, and if we’d shown everything we’d have run out of tape!”

“Naruto.” Sasuke’s voice grew stern. “I saw that other me summon a _snake_ . And _Sai_ was with Team 7.” He wanted answers. Needed answers. “I have my suspicions already, I know there’s more, and I need you to tell me what it is.”

Naruto hesitated.

“ _Orochimaru_ already knows, Naruto! He keeps making comments, hinting at things. Tell me!” Sasuke demanded.

“All right, all right! It’s just,” Naruto paused and looked Sasuke in the eyes. “You know that what I show you isn’t _you_ , right? A lot of things haven’t happened, or happened differently.”

Sasuke nodded, though Naruto’s attempt at reassurance made him worry even more. He followed Naruto, who seemed to have a set destination in mind. He’d get his answers soon enough.

He set aside his speculations and thought about their encounter with Orochimaru. “What did you guys give Orochimaru back there?”

“Oh,” Naruto glanced at him. “We, uh, we’ve been trying to capture Black Zetsu for a while now. He sometimes spies on fights and things, so while we were training the older jinchuriki tried to lure him out.”

Sasuke remembered their encounter years ago, with the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails. _Was that what was going on? And didn’t Kakashi meet with someone there? Were we sent on that mission so Kakashi could be… backup?_ Still, whatever was going on back then, it must not have worked.

“That Zetsu is a slippery little shit!” Naruto continued. “He’s hard to pin down, and he slithers through normal seals with ease. We’re hoping Orochimaru can come up with something that he can’t escape from.”

That made a certain amount of sense. As Sasuke followed Naruto to wherever they were going, he couldn’t help sneaking peeks at his… friend. Sure, the hair and eye color were different, but once Sasuke looked past such superficial differences he found a Naruto that was achingly familiar and completely strange, all at the same time. He kept trying to compare, point-by-point, the Naruto before him with the teammate he remembered. As if he could somehow pinpoint the essence of Naruto, identify what made the current one so different. Some of the changes were an inevitable part of growing up. Naruto, like Sasuke, had grown taller and lost some of his babyfat. He looked more muscular, his shoulders broader, the black leather coat clung nicely to his torso and showed off a gorgeous chest, tapering down to a nice, narrow waist and-

Sasuke blushed slightly and glanced away.

What was he thinking? Naruto. Right. This Naruto seemed somehow more confident, and maybe even a little bit quieter? That’s assuming this was what Naruto was really like, now. After all, Sasuke couldn’t forget how long Naruto had acted as Souta. How much is an act? For that matter...

“How are you able to do infiltration missions when you’re so bad at lying?” Still bad, if the way he’d reacted to Sasuke’s questions was any indication. Was it?

Naruto burst out laughing. “Oh, that took quite a bit of work, I’m telling you! Our trainer, Akari-sensei, had her work cut out for her. She told us that the best infiltrators don’t try to be something they’re not, they make what they’ve already got going on work for them. So, like, if we want someone to straight up lie we tend to have Gaara do it. He’s got such a great poker face that nobody can tell.”

“Though,” Naruto’s face softened with fondness, “he did have to at least _try_ to emote a little! It was awful. And hilarious, but mostly awful. If we really need it, he can do it, but most of the time it’s not that big of a deal. He’s not the only silent and stoic ninja around.” Naruto gave Sasuke an amused glance at that.

“Hn.”

“Fu was in some ways the easiest. Too many people just see a pretty face and dismiss her.” Naruto shook his head at that. “Even experienced ninjas - who really ought to know better! - have a tendency to overlook her.

“And as for me, Akari-sensei said I have a gift for coming across as transparent or something, and that it makes people trust me. So she actually encouraged that, encouraged me to be outright honest. Just… to not volunteer things. Like, if people don’t know what questions to ask then I don’t have to lie to them.

“So mostly I learned how to acce- “ Naruto seemed to struggle with the word for a bit “- accentuate what I have. Just, you know, doing it more deliberately now. I mean, I never realized how often I acted in ways that made people underestimate me. So this, this gave me the skill to do it deliberately.”

Sasuke wasn’t sure what he thought about that, though he supposed he could see it’s utility. After all, ninjas were all about deception and looking underneath the underneath.

He’d just never thought that transparency had the potential for great deception. Though considering all he’d learned about Naruto since he disappeared, he supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised. Wasn’t this exactly why none of them realized Naruto was a jinchuriki in the first place?

“You have no idea how amazing we are!” Naruto continued chattering away. “I mean, we’re able to do so much more than any other infiltration team has ever done!”

“Why would you need to? Aren’t you all jinchuriki? You’ve all got the power of a Tailed Beast in you, why would you need to infiltrate anything?”

“Well, you know, I probably wouldn’t have bothered if we weren’t trying to catch Black Zetsu,” Naruto agreed. “But, well… “

He stopped walking as he tried to put words to his thoughts. “We all learned to work with our Tailed Beasts, right?” He tilted his head in enquiry, continuing when Sasuke nodded.

“So we each could probably destroy a village, or even a mountain, easily. But if all I want to do is capture or kill one man, destroying the village in the process is kind of - overkill.”

Naruto gestured wildly, talking with his hands as much as words. “We have so much power it can actually be a problem, like trying to use a hydraulic press to hammer a nail. The things we’ve been learning give us more _options_.

“Nobody’s ever done anything like this with a team of jinchuriki before, and we’ve got a lot of advantages you don’t really see for our type of team.”

Naruto started walking again, headed towards a hall that Sasuke was vaguely aware held conference rooms. “See, since we all have a ton of chakra, that means we can all use Shadow Clones!”

“Shadow Clones?”

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, see… when a Shadow Clone dispels you get all their memories. So we could use them for anything short of physical conditioning.”

Sasuke remembered just how _many_ clones Naruto could produce, and shuddered. That level of power was- scary. And three ninjas capable of learning like that, all on one team?

“Most infiltration teams only have so much time to learn what they need to know,” Naruto continued to explain. “They have to know all the usual ninja skills, as well as whatever they need for their covers. Most only have time to master one or two non-ninja skillsets.”

“Like being a musician?”

“Yeah,” Naruto nodded. “Or carpenter, or photographer, or merchant. We had the chakra capacity to really cram a lot of things in. Plus some more… specialized training.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in silent enquiry.

“Reading people, understanding body language. That sort of stuff.” Again, Naruto was talking with his hands, almost bouncing with enthusiasm. “Akari-sensei took us to bars and public parks and things, just to watch how people interact. It’s really interesting, especially watching how men and women signal each other at bars and stuff. They signal each other with subtle things, like a friendly smile here or a refusal to make eye contact there.”

Naruto walked down to a door at the end of the hall and opened it. Sasuke was surprised to find a conference room with one wall full of… _seals_?

Naruto plopped himself down on a chair and waved Sasuke to another. “And did you know, did you know?” Sasuke was vividly reminded of a much younger Naruto, barely able to restrain himself and bouncing with excitement. “People start unconsciously mimicking each other when they’re in a group. Like, if one person crosses their leg the other soon follows. If one person leans forward, so does the other.” Naruto leaned back in his chair.

And Sasuke… Sasuke stifled the urge to do the same.

“People are just so fascinating!”

Sasuke found himself caught by Naruto’s enthusiasm, felt his warmth, his sheer _presence_ , reaching out to embrace him, like the sun on an unseasonably warm winter day.

He cleared his throat.

“What is this place?” Sasuke glanced around the room, at the long table and chairs positioned so anyone sitting there had a good view of the seals on the wall.

“It’s a viewing room, it’s got all the seals I need to show my visions.”

“Why does _Orochimaru_ have a room like this?”

“Uh, it’s sort of part of the agreement they all came to.” Naruto gave an awkward laugh.

Sasuke gave him a _look_.

“Hey, I don’t know the full details. Just, well, we might have interfered with some of his plans, and then he started investigating on his own, and eventually he just showed up at one of our hidden locations and offered a trade.”

“Who is this ‘we’ you keep talking about?”

“Uh,” Naruto shifted in his seat. “They’re kind of, umm, people on the moon?” his voice trailed off.

“The moon.”

“Yeah, seems, that Six Paths Sage guy had a brother or something, and his brother decided to go live on the moon. And he told all of _his_ descendents about the Ten Tails, so they kept an eye out for any signs of it’s revival. They, umm, they refuse to get involved in normal political things, made some sort of promise and they take it very seriously. They just sort of made an exception for this.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “So the people on the moon had a secret organization, and Orochimaru found out about it and made an agreement, and that led to a room with viewing seals?”

“Yeah, he wanted to know what we all saw. Insisted on it as part of their agreement. The moon guys weren’t too thrilled at the idea, but they knew Orochimaru could be useful. They made Orochimaru agree to a few things that made them feel less distaste for an alliance - human research subjects was a big one there - and nobody believes that Orochimaru’s reformed or anything, but he has come in useful from time to time.

“And if he really finds a way to capture Black Zetsu,” Naruto jaw tightened with determination. “Well, that’s why we’re here.”

Sasuke grunted.

An awkward silence descended, and Sasuke decided to prod Naruto forward a little.

“So, a viewing room?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Naruto still appeared to have some misgiving as he activated the seals. Sasuke wasn’t sure what he expected to see, but it was definitely not an image of himself in a hospital room, nor to get deja vu as his _younger_ self glared at Naruto.

He recognized this scene, recognized the room, his age, his demand for a fight. This was _that day_ , this was the last time he had seen Naruto. For _years_.

Except this encounter had gone differently. Instead of Naruto refusing to fight, instead of his distracted air and hidden goodbyes, this Naruto agreed.

Sasuke watched as his younger self sparred with Naruto on top of the hospital, where he blew a fire jutsu at Naruto - with _intent_. Where Naruto used - what had Naruto called it? The rasengan?

Used the rasengan to blow away his attack… and he shuddered as his younger self pulled out chidori, as Naruto and Sasuke ran at each other with deadly force, and as they almost killed Sakura - and each other.

The rasengan was clearly a precursor to the glowing shuriken jutsu Naruto and his fellow jinchuriki had revealed in that video.

Naruto had promised to show him everything, and he clearly planned on doing so. Even when it meant watching his younger self attack Naruto, again. This time intentionally trying to murder his best friend, determined to join Orochimaru, to train with him and gain power. And Sasuke knew it was all so he could kill his brother - and didn’t that look foolish now, in light of everything he had learned?

He saw himself pursuing his quest for vengeance, one he’d believed in wholeheartedly, and now watching himself pursue that goal made his heart ache.

Sasuke’s face turned to stone as he and Naruto turned into baby monsters, him under the influence of that cursed seal and Naruto… Naruto looking like a tiny, murderous Nine-Tails.

He was slightly relieved that this other self didn’t go through with killing Naruto. He knew what had to be going through his head - what Itachi had told him, what being under the cursed seal was like. He knew that he’d been told to kill his best friend for power, and he was happy to know he wouldn’t have actually gone through with it. This time.

But there were others, and each time the Sasuke on screen looked colder and more dead inside. Each time he came closer to really doing it, really killing his closest friend.

The worst, he thought, the worst was whatever led up to that encounter by a bridge, the one where Naruto appeared to rescue Sakura in the nick of time. Where Sasuke was clearly trying to kill the other members of Team 7, and not just his best friend. No longer fighting just for the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

He looked - mad. Stark raving mad.

He knew, since Naruto chose to include other scenes related to his own, that he had apparently learned the truth about the Uchiha massacre. At least, that’s what the orange-masked Akatsuki member had indicated.

And so the most horrifying part, to Sasuke at least, was not seeing his fall into hatred. It was knowing that, no matter how much Naruto insisted it wasn’t him, those visions showed a truth about himself. He might not have made those choices, might not be that person today, but he could have been.

If things had gone different…

If he had joined Orochimaru for power…

If he had succeeded in killing Itachi before learning the truth about the massacre…

If he hadn’t built those bonds with his friends, the other Konoha 12. The ones who promised to make sure something like that never happened again.

If he hadn’t known about Danzo ahead of time, and how the warmonger acted on his own, outside the direction of the village.

And he couldn’t deny it. Couldn’t deny that part of himself. Couldn’t pretend he would never do something like that, never attempt to harm people he’d grown to care strongly for...

He winced when it became clear that he and Naruto had lost their hands - not because of that Kaguya lady, not because of Madara, or Black Zetsu - they had done it to each other. Done it to themselves.

They would have had a brutal fight that exhausted the both of them of their chakra. And then proceeded to try and beat each other into bloody submission.

He supposed he should be grateful it all would have worked out, that apparently he learned his lesson. But he would have made so many mistakes along the way. Hurt so many people.

He couldn’t help stealing glances at Naruto, at his… friend. Despite it all, despite everything. Sure, this Naruto hadn’t done everything the other Naruto had, just as he hadn’t done what the other Sasuke had. But that loyalty? That determination?

He had so many questions. So he started with the easiest.

“The first vision was from that day at the hospital, wasn’t it? Is that… Is that why you left?”

“Huh?” Sasuke felt a little reassured by Naruto’s confused response.

“That first vision, when I asked you to fight me… that’s when you really started changing the future. Was it because of our fight?” _Was it because of- me?_

Naruto shifted a bit in his seat. “That was a long time ago!”

Sasuke waited.

“I guess, well. I mean, I’d just learned about all sorts of things happening - you. Akatsuki. Jiraiya. Pein. The Fourth Shinobi War. And, well, when you asked me to fight it was like proof that these visions were _real_. Like that was truly what was going to happen, if I didn’t do something to change it.

“I knew, just _knew_ , that if I agreed to fight you we’d end up on the roof of the hospital. Proof that those visions were real, showed a future that would actually happen, sort of pushed me towards leaving. And then… “

Naruto got kind of quiet, and seemed to be carefully considering his words.

“I didn’t want that to be the last thing we did.”

“Hn.”

The room grew silent, and Sasuke caught himself watching Naruto. If he were honest with himself, he owed Naruto. A lot. He wouldn’t have known about Itachi at all if Naruto and his team hadn’t infiltrated Konoha during the Chunin exams. And Sasuke had always suspected Naruto had been behind the removal of his cursed seal. Speaking of which…

“Naruto.”

“Hmmm?” Naruto tilted his head.

“Who removed my cursed seal? And… and those memories showed I was with some Sound ninjas, but I’ve never met them.” Actually, now that Sasuke thought about it, one of them had four arms and he vaguely recalled overhearing something about a four-armed corpse found near Konoha.

“Oh,” Naruto gave a sheepish laugh. “Yeah, the guy that recruited me knew a lot about seals, he offered to take the cursed seal off. Said he’d do it regardless of what I decided, you know? And when a seal master has time to prepare, well, stopping the Sound Four wasn’t too hard either.”

“Why?”

“Huh?” Naruto looked confused.

“Why go so far for me?” Sasuke found himself wanting an answer, needing an answer. Naruto had already done so much for him, though he never pointed it out or acted like he’d done Sasuke a favor. Naruto had given him his brother back, kept him from abandoning his friends in his misguided quest for vengeance. And, if these visions were correct, Naruto would even have given up an arm to bring him back. To bring a Sasuke mad with hatred back. Sasuke felt unworthy of such… such generosity, given without question or expectation.

“Well,” Naruto shifted a bit. “I’m not really good with words, you know. Even with all that training.”

Sasuke waited, his silence somehow demanding an answer better than words ever could.

“It’s just, I dunno. I knew the curse mark was hurting you. Knew you were in pain, and… like… it made me hurt inside.”

Sasuke felt stunned. His conversation with Hinata was still on his mind isn’t that just another way to describe, another form of - _love_?

Naruto eyes lost focus as he tried to put his thought process to words. “And, like… leaving Konoha was hard. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But knowing that you all were safe, or, well, as safe as any ninja can be… “

“It’s like, it gave me the confidence to go do what I needed to do. The curse-mark, Danzo- I couldn’t just ignore them.”

Sasuke didn’t know how to respond to that, that typical Naruto behavior. He seemed so ordinary and casual, and then he’d say something that was- that was somehow gloriously transparent, beautiful in a way you never knew you wanted or needed until you saw it in action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for those interested in this sort of thing, I'm describing things like body mirroring - http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/chap12.html (I haven't verified the research mentioned here, but it has a good description of body mirroring) and, while I don't specifically get into microexpressions, I am influenced a bit by Paul Ekman - https://www.paulekman.com/
> 
> Anyways. I felt like posting this chapter 'cause I really like it, and I'll be a bit busy what with Thanksgiving coming up. I do hope to get another chapter out on Turkey Day, if I can.


	19. Starlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto and Fu play some music, and Sasuke shows his resolve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Realized something might have been less than clear, and made a minor edit to the previous chapter. Basically I was thinking of Kankuro's warpaint when I described Naruto and Fu's facial markings, but since they're supposedly musicians instead of ninjas I called it 'make up', and the most important part of that is that it's yet another way to cover up Naruto's adorable, but unfortunately far too identifiable, whisker marks.
> 
> For those who celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving. Here's a short little something that's hopefully a reason to give thanks. ;)

Sasuke hadn’t slept well. After Naruto had finished showing him the rest of the visions, they’d pretty much just hung out and talked. Or rather, Naruto did most of the talking. Sasuke found himself relaxing, taking comfort in the mostly inane chatter… Not that Naruto didn’t have anything interesting to say, their years apart meant Naruto had all sorts of experiences Sasuke hadn’t known about, and he found himself absorbing every little detail he could. It’s just that Naruto was very, very good at talking a lot without giving too much away. He told all sorts of stories about places he’d been or things he’d done, but most of it was under his current guise as a traveling musician and totally avoided any mention of Tailed Beasts or Akatsuki. 

Hinata’s suggestion that he figure out what Naruto meant to him, and what he wanted from Naruto, was always there in the back of his mind. It didn’t help that Naruto had picked out a room just down the hall. By the time morning came, he had a much better sense of what he wanted - and it made him nervous. Not that he was going to let that show.

For now he was sitting in the common room, sharing a table with Suigetsu and Karin, and watching Naruto and Fu put on a show.

Naruto looked like he belonged up there, the center of attention like he’d always wanted. Sasuke knew their real reason for coming, but Naruto said they had to maintain their role… and actually playing music meant he wouldn’t have to tell a complete lie if anyone asked why he was there, Naruto had also cautioned Sasuke not to use his real name when he was around anyone else. Sasuke wasn’t sure how much it mattered, but he wasn’t going to be the one to ruin their mission.

“Karin, quit moving your chair! You’re obviously trying to get closer to Sasuke.” 

“I am not! I was just - I wanted a better view!” Karin protested, blushing furiously.

Sasuke ignored Suigetsu and Karin, far too accustomed to their bickering. He found himself wondering how often Naruto played roles like this. How many skills had he picked up in the past couple of years, anyway?

“I’m not obsessed with Sasuke!” Karin was still arguing with Suigetsu. Sasuke mentally rolled his eyes and tried, yet again, to tune them out. At least Naruto and Fu had a good sound system, it made it somewhat easier to ignore their bickering.

“I can too!” Karin’s voice rose. “You’re just upset that I don’t think  _ you _ are attractive! Hmph. That musician is pretty hot, I’d take him over you any day!”

At that, Sasuke firmed his resolve. It looked like Naruto and Fu were taking a break, so he chugged the rest of his drink and got up to grab another, then made his way to Naruto. He may not have the full answer, may not know what the future would hold, but he knew one thing for sure. He wasn’t going to let vague worries or fears make him miss out. Not again. 

“Hey, think you can get away for a bit?” Sasuke did his best to sound casual.

“I think so, let me check with Kotone.” Naruto walked over to Fu, his black leather pants showing off his ass rather nicely. Sasuke’s cheeks grew warm and he quickly shifted his gaze. He couldn’t hear what Naruto was saying to Fu, but she glanced over at Sasuke. Then shocked Sasuke by grinning at him and winking.

Sasuke took a quick sip to cover his confusion as Naruto returned.

“She’s got it covered, whatcha got in mind?”

“Hn. You’ll see.” Sasuke headed for a side door, making sure he didn’t go anywhere near Suigetsu or Karin. 

Naruto, as usual, covered any awkward silences as he followed Sasuke down the hall towards a set of stairs going up.

“I didn’t know there was anything up here.” Naruto eyed the stairs curiously. “Where are we going?”

“Orochimaru has an observatory up here,” Sasuke said curtly, trying to hide his nervousness. He didn’t know why Ino and Sakura thought he was cool and suave, they’d be laughing their asses off if they could see him now. Then again, he knew he only seemed cool and mysterious because he hadn’t cared at all. This, though… this was different.

“An observatory? What, he studies astronomy? Geez, what else is that guy into?”

“Hn. I think a better question is what  _ isn’t _ he into? You’re the one who’s been hanging out with people from the moon, idiot. Is it really that surprising?”

Naruto shook his head with a laugh. “Probably not, it’s just not what I pictured the old snake doing.”

“Hn.”

They finally made it to the top, Sasuke stepping aside so Naruto could enter first. Naruto looked up at the night sky, his face full of wonder and delight. Orochimaru’s lair was far enough away from any village that the sky was clear, and free of the usual light pollution. The sky was full of millions upon millions of stars, the Milky Way shining more clearly than Sasuke had ever seen before.

“It’s beautiful!” Naruto breathed.

Sasuke found his attention caught, not by the stars, but by the way the starlight bathed Naruto’s face, casting a silvery glow that highlighted where Naruto’s makeup covered his whisker marks. Without thought, he reached out to trace the indentation.

Naruto turned to face him, his hand reaching up to cover Sasuke’s, eyes so full of emotion that Sasuke thought he could drown in them.  _ Whoever thought Naruto was simple was an idiot. He’s like a swift but clear river, your ability to see the bottom fooling you about how deep it is. _

“Sasuke,” Naruto’s voice came out husky and deep. “I- You know- “

“I know.” Sasuke interrupted. “You’ve still got to deal with Akatsuki.”

Naruto gave a slight nod and opened his mouth.

“You’re on an infiltration mission, I know. I know what that can include, Naruto.” Sasuke overrode him. “It doesn’t matter. The past is the past and, chakra visions aside, I don’t know the future.”

He took a deep breath, struggling to put into words something he’d gradually come to realize. “You were right. When you said I had tunnel-vision. You were right, Naruto. And I missed out on so many things because of it. Because I was so focused on the past, on my own goals. I don’t want to miss out any more.”

Naruto gave Sasuke a searching look. “You’re sure?” 

A strange calm entered Sasuke, replacing his previous nervousness. He stepped forward until all he could feel was Naruto’s warm lips on his own, his taste on his tongue. He started slow and gentle, taking his time, savoring every little bit as Naruto responded in kind. Somehow his arms were holding Naruto, and he could feel Naruto’s taut body underneath his jacket. Sasuke felt warmth spreading through him, the warmth of summer after a long winter. 

He didn’t want this moment to end, wanted to stay like this forever. 

Naruto pulled back slightly, his face flushed and eyes aglow. “So, “ he murmured in Sasuke’s ear, “your place or mine?”

Sasuke laughed and leaned in for another kiss. 


	20. An Exposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The exfiltration of Itachi begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! So I was busy visiting relatives over Thanksgiving, then got annoyingly sick, then had to finish up a project or two for school (finals week is next week, only a few more things to do and then I am D.O.N.E. Not just with the semester, but with my degree.)
> 
> So I took a slight break from writing, but I never promised to write regularly and it's only been a little over a week, so it's probably not too big of a deal? Anyways, here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy. :)

“It’s time.”

A shiver of anticipation went through Sasuke at Kabuto’s words. He nodded in acknowledgement and took the scroll the medic was holding out. It had been weeks since Naruto had left, Orochimaru’s research finally paying off. Sasuke thought fondly of their days together, and the time spent exploring and learning about each other. He missed Naruto, but he knew that a lot of things had to be put on hold for now. He had, as usual, thrown himself into his training and done his best to grow stronger. 

He’d had a go-bag already packed and ready, all he had to do was grab it and meet with the rest of his team. Orochimaru was loaning Karin and Suigetsu for this, adding some verisimilitude to the coming show. Sasuke couldn’t just walk straight to Itachi, after all. It would have indicated a level of knowledge that would have been suspicious.

With Suigetsu and Karin’s help, he planned to conduct a highly visible search for his brother. Konoha had done their part to spread rumours about his defection to Orochimaru and would be sending a team out to ‘find him’ as soon as they heard reports of his presence. That would also, not coincidentally, place a few more Konoha ninjas closer to the Akatsuki hideout. 

Months of planning, months of training, months of hard work were finally coming to fruition. 

He heard Suigetsu complaining before he even reached the entrance. 

“Why do  _ you _ have to come along,” Suigetsu’s voice drifted down the corridor. 

“Sasuke needs my sensing abilities,” Karin huffily replied. “You’re the one who’s a deadweight. You should just stay here.” 

“No way! You just want to be alone with Sa-su-ke.”

Sasuke mentally rolled his eyes before carefully wiping all emotion from his face. “Let’s go,” he commanded, striding out the door. Suigetsu and Karin fell in behind, as he’d known they would.

 

********************************

 

So far, everything was going according to the plan. Sasuke’s team hit a few places, roughed up some criminal financiers, and made a rather public - to certain circles at least - display of their intent. They’d even managed to get the location for one of Akatsuki’s hideouts, though Sasuke was fairly sure it wasn’t currently in use. He made the rest of his team wait outside while he investigated, and found the first sign that this was really going to work - Itachi had a clone waiting.

Sasuke knew there was a good chance someone was watching, maybe even Zetsu - black, white or both. So he glared at the clone of his brother. 

“Did you get a little taller?” Itachi asked, his cold, emotionless voice belying what would normally be a brotherly enquiry. Sasuke found himself watching the clone carefully, trying to see past the impression of carelessness. Was Itachi that good of an actor? To all appearances, he seemed as aloof and nonchalant as ever. Was there a hint of sadness, behind the facade? Or was Sasuke just fooling himself?

Sasuke dismissed such speculation and focused on his task. Itachi was here, the plan was on, and although that indicated something Sasuke could ponder it another time. He knew the truth behind the massacre, now.  _ Knew _ that Itachi was not some power-mad clan-killer. 

“You haven’t changed a bit.” Sasuke threw it out like a challenge.  _ Though now I know how true that statement really is, know that Itachi has been the brother I thought I knew all along. _

“You’re not going to scream and charge at me, like last time?”  _ Damn, Itachi is good at this. _

“Hmph” Sasuke grunted dismissively. “I’m not the same kid I was back then.” He blurred into motion, launching an attack on the clone’s vulnerable back. “It’s time for you to pay for your crimes, Itachi.”

His chidori stream struck the clone hard, piercing him in multiple places. 

“You’ve gotten... much stronger,” the clone gasped out before dissolving into a murder of crows.

“Come to the Uchiha’s hideout, alone. We’ll finish this there.” Itachi’s voice faded, and with it the last lingering presence of Sasuke’s brother.

Sasuke took a deep breath and steeled himself for the next scene.   
  


********************************

 

Sasuke wasn’t surprised that Kisame stopped them before they reached the hideout, though he wondered how much Kisame really knew. 

Enough of that, though.

Sasuke left Suigetsu and Karin behind again, and stepped into the Uchiha building. 

He found his brother lounging on a broken chair like some sort of benighted ruler on a ruined throne. 

“What do you see… with your sharingan?” Itachi asked, indifferently. 

Sasuke mustered the remnants of his anger, his hatred, drawing on what he remembered of all his thoughts and feelings before he’d learned the truth, and put it all into a glare. He even drew on his experience with the cursed seal, determined to do his part.

“I see your death.” 

“You see me… dead?” Itachi spoke as casually as if they were discussing whether or not it was going to snow. “Well then… let’s see how good your eyesight is.“ 

Then Itachi stood up, and smiled warmly, the change in demeanour disconcerting. “Time passes differently in a genjutsu. We have a bit of time before anyone notices that something is off.”

Even though Sasuke had reason to believe it was all an act, the speed with which Itachi turned off his ominous presence was shocking. Itachi was  _ brilliant  _ at this.

Sasuke lowered his weapons slightly, though he couldn’t relax entirely. “So it’s true. You’re a double agent.”

His brother gave a slight nod. “I expected to die without anyone ever knowing, but… “

Sasuke understood. Those jinchuriki visions had changed all sorts of things, and this was just one more. Still… he took a deep breath.

“Why?” Itachi started to reply, but Sasuke talked over him, the words rushing out. “No, not why you killed the clan. I don’t like it, but I understand that part. But… why did you tell me to kill my best friend? Why did you set me up to kill  _ you _ ? Why… why make me believe that you were… evil.” He paused for air. “I have the Mangekyou, Itachi. And I didn’t have to kill my friend to get it.”

Old feelings welled up while he waited for Itachi’s response. Always,  _ always _ , his brother left him with more questions than answers. Always busy, always gone, always talking about things Sasuke didn’t really understand. And now, now he knew that the few answers his brother had given him were all lies. 

Finding out the truth had changed things, yes. Allowed him to remember how much he had loved his brother, how much it hurt to be left alone. But it also made him angry, angry at his brother for putting on this show, angry for setting Sasuke up to kill his only living relative… 

This anger was a completely different thing from his previous quest for vengeance. He was mad, but he no longer wanted to kill Itachi. He didn’t really know what he wanted, other than that. And so he waited, wondering what Itachi would say, wondered if he’d be given the full truth this time. Wondered how much he could trust whatever Itachi said.

“An Uchiha coup would have been a disaster.” Sasuke felt frustrated at the non-answer, but Itachi raised a placating hand and continued.

“Peace… peace is not possible when we keep thinking in terms of us vs. them. Although villages still have that mentality - Leaf vs. Cloud, Sand vs. Mist - it’s a step forward, as we can all be part of the village regardless of whether we are Uchiha, or Hyuga, or even clanless. An Uchiha coup would have brought us back to the belief that clan is everything, and how could the Uchiha have held the village on that basis without alienating all the other clans? All it would have done was created chaos, made us weak, and led to further fighting. Whether they had succeeded or failed the Uchiha would have been devastated… and the fact that Konoha leadership already knew about the coup sealed their fate.”

But… I didn’t have to be the one to kill them.” Itachi paused again, a look of concentration on his face. “I knew, however, that if Konoha forces did it… knowledge of the coup would be too public, and I’d have no say in who would die. I couldn’t make sure they left you alone, Sasuke.”

Sasuke felt a chill pass through him at the confirmation that Itachi killed everyone, at least in part, to protect him. What do you say to such a thing? He hadn’t even known… hadn’t asked for it, or wanted it.

“Plus,” Itachi continued relentlessly, “I owed it to our clan. If it had to be done, better to be done by one of our own. But… someone had to take the blame for their deaths. The mysterious death of an entire clan would have been far more destabilizing.

“I couldn’t bring you with me. I was going to be a missing-nin, and that is too harsh of a lifestyle. I wanted more for you.” 

Itachi stopped speaking for a moment, and Sasuke wondered if that was all he was going to get. After a moment, Itachi continued.

“I made mistakes, Sasuke.” Hearing Itachi admit to making a mistake was somehow earth shattering. 

Itachi had been Sasuke’s talented older brother, his role model, the epitome of everything a ninja should be. And then he’d killed the clan, and Sasuke saw him as a monster. Larger than life, the epitome of evil. 

That Itachi could make mistakes, that Itachi was fallible - it didn’t fit with either image. It made him seem somehow more… human.

“Perhaps the biggest,” Itachi continued, “was the one the jinchuriki visions showed me. I truly thought I’d be able to keep the truth about the massacre a secret. In hindsight it doesn’t seem too surprising, but all my carefully laid plans would have been in vain. 

“I had fully intended to die with that secret intact, and to stay with Akatsuki until the end. Your friend, though, has… how did he put it?” Itachi gave a slight smile. “He was going to ‘kick my ass’ if I didn’t get out of there before I died. And… I am. Dying, that is.”

The words didn’t make sense, refused to make sense. Sasuke stared at Itachi, not certain what to think, what to feel.

“Dying?”

Itachi nodded. “I’m ill, Sasuke. I have a year or two left, depending on how hard I push myself. I don’t think I have much more than that. I wanted to see the end of Akatsuki, but as I said, your friend was quite insistent that I go. I know I can’t ever make things right, and you don’t have to forgive me, but I will try my best to answer your questions.”

Sasuke opened his mouth, but no words came out. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. He didn’t know what he thought of Itachi any more, he’d hated him for so long, looked up to him even longer, been chasing after him his whole life in one way or another… and now he’s  _ dying _ ? 

“A medic… “

Itachi shrugged dismissively. His face grew distant and he tilted his head as though listening. 

“We can talk more later, Zetsu is watching. We don’t have much more time before he’ll get suspicious. You have a plan?”

Sasuke nodded and explained everything. Once they were finished, Itachi released the genjutsu and Sasuke put on the most important show of his life. 

As agreed, he went after Itachi as if he truly meant to kill him, holding on to Itachi’s promise that he wouldn’t succeed. That Itachi was skilled enough to take the worst Sasuke could throw - short of his Mangekyou, which they were holding in reserve - and not die. 

Itachi had not told him ahead of time how he was going to play his part, in order to lend some realism to Sasuke’s reactions. And so he was properly horrified when Itachi told him about the Mangekyou, how using it made you blind, and how Madara took his brother’s eyes. 

Itachi - damn. He’d said it before and he’d say it again - Itachi was  _ brilliant _ . If he didn’t know better, he would have been taken in by Itachi’s deranged display. His claims that he wanted Sasuke’s eyes, that he hadn’t killed Sasuke just so he’d have a spare set.

Sasuke felt proud when he broke Itachi’s genjutsu without revealing his Mangekyo, pleased that he and his brother were able to throw a barrage of shuriken at each other and deflect every one. 

Things went on like that for a while, Sasuke trusting that his brother was skilled enough to dodge or deflect anything truly serious. It grew easier to fight without holding back as Itachi kept dissolving into crows every time he thought he got a serious hit in.

Then they took the fight to the roof of the building and Itachi fired off black flames - Ameterasu. Sasuke managed to dodge by creating a hole in the roof and dropping below. There he set off a series of fireballs that heated the air, conflicting with the cooler surrounding air and creating an impromptu thunderstorm.

He created a giant lightning strike that hit his brother, and left a burnt body in its wake.


	21. Opening Moves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone takes the bait, Shikamaru watches some clouds, and Sasuke is offered a gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, finals are just about done, yay! I did surprisingly well on one of my projects. (I had to create a mobile app. I don't actually want to create mobile apps, but I wanted to understand how it was done and what some of the code does. I got to see code for mobile malware once, and definitely wanted to understand it better. I got what I wanted out of the class, but I'll leave fragments and intents - and graphics in three different resolutions for the different screen sizes - to the experts.) Looks like all A's across the board, though I do have one more thing to finish up for the networking class.
> 
> I plan on wallowing in relief for at least the weekend before allowing the stress and worry about job hunting rear it's ugly head. I will (hopefully) have the time to wrap this up, and wrap the story up well, while looking. Though no promises, if an opportunity comes I'ma jumping on it.

Shino pushed his glasses up and eyed the Akatsuki members at the crossroads below. He and his team were there to assist Utakata, the jinchuriki of the Six-Tails, in an attempt to draw out and neutralize as many members of Akatsuki as they could. He had been surprised to discover that the Hokage was working with other villages so openly, though upon reflection it made sense. If all the jinchuriki had seen what Naruto had, then every village must know how important it was to work together.

Still, it was strange to work with Mist and Stone ninjas. The Mizukage had sent a Swordsman of the Mist - Chojuro. The Raikage had sent a skilled ninja named Darui, and the Tsuchikage had sent his own granddaughter, Kurotsuchi. Utakata was acting as bait, but they weren’t sure which Akatsuki members, if any, would take it. 

Shikamaru had given all of them a brief on what they knew about Akatsuki’s capabilities, and Shino had been hoping that they’d get someone like Sasori or Kisame. He was fairly certain his bugs could defeat the puppetmaster, and would come in handy in any fight with ‘the Tailed Beast without a Tail’. Especially if Kiba kept him occupied and Hinata was able to block his tenketsu points.

Watching the black-cloaked figures below, he was pleased to see that Akatsuki had taken the bait. he was less pleased to discover who it was - Kakuzu and Hidan. To quote his friend, how troublesome.

 

********************************

 

Shikamaru watched a cloud lazily float across the sky, idly musing on whether it looked more like a rabbit or a duck. He tried to appreciate the peace and quiet, the lack of pressure to do much of anything, but he was too keyed up to truly relax. He had good reason to be where he was, he’d helped develop the plan, after all. Yet he couldn’t help wishing he’d had a good reason to assign his team somewhere else. He especially wanted the chance to fight Kakuzu and Hidan. A large part of that was because he wanted to make sure they never had the chance to kill Asuma-sensei, but he also  _ knew _ that Team 10 could survive an encounter with the disturbing duo. He worried about whoever had to deal with them, though to be honest all the Akatsuki members seemed scarily powerful. He knew he’d be worrying right up until the very end.

Unfortunately, Team 10 was the only choice for their current assignment. The other teams - well, Team 8 had Kiba and Team Gui had Lee. Shikamaru shuddered to think of what diplomacy would be like with either of them involved. Team 7 could conceivably have done well, but Kakashi needed to be where they were… and with Sasuke and Naruto in the thick of things there was no way Team 7 would be anywhere else.

Which left Shikamaru with no choice but to assign Team 10 to this mission. They were hanging around in neutral territory near the border of Rain country, there as part of a diplomatic effort by Jiraiya and Killer Bee. They were acting as a combination of entourage and backup for the two powerhouses, in conjunction with a couple of Cloud ninjas, Karui and Samui. Not that Shikamaru expected the Toad Sage and jinchuriki of the Eight Tails to need much help if push came to shove. Then again… their most likely opponent had the power to obliterate Konoha. 

Killer Bee had put together a video similar to the one Naruto had given Sasuke, though shorter and less personal. It showed his visions of the Fourth War, and would hopefully convince Pein and his partner to break away from Akatsuki. 

If everything worked out and they succeeded, great. Even if it failed, though, keeping Pein and Konan occupied meant that they were unlikely to be on hand when Naruto’s team made their move… so even a failure would be a success, if they survived it. 

So far the work was boring, but he liked boring. He could deal with boring. What he couldn’t deal with was listening to Ino’s complaints - particularly as she worried about Sakura. Then he had the fun of watching Choji make a fool of himself over that Karui girl. To top it all off, he had to listen to Killer Bee’s horrible rapping. 

The jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails seemed like a decent guy once you got past the annoyance factor, and he got along with Jiraiya surprisingly well. Or perhaps it wasn’t a surprise, since both powerful ninjas were ridiculous, in their own way. 

Still, even though Shikamaru hated anything that implied work, he cared deeply about his friends. He sighed as he realized, yet again, that he just couldn’t focus on cloud watching like normal. He would rather be in the thick of it than left to wonder and worry about his friends.

 

********************************

 

A quick look of surprise crossed Kisame’s face when Sasuke came back alone, though the giant ninja left without causing any trouble. Sasuke hardly spoke to Suigetsu and Karin as they made their way back to the hideout, all senses on alert for any sign of surveillance. It was only after they were far, far away from the scene of the fight that he finally stopped.

“You can come out, now.”

Sasuke’s muscles unknotted as Itachi stepped out from the concealing foliage. He hadn’t been entirely sure it had worked, hadn’t been certain the body he’d sealed in a scroll was Kabuto’s handiwork and not the real deal, not until he saw Itachi with his own eyes. It had been nerve-racking, hiding the welter of emotions he’d felt on the way back. The uncertainty about whether the plan had worked, the hope for success, the worry about failure…

Itachi had promised Sasuke that he wouldn’t actually allow himself to be killed, but Sasuke hadn’t known when Itachi would do the switch, and wasn’t entirely sure it had been done in time.

But there was Itachi, alive and… perhaps not well, if he truly was sick, but he wasn’t burnt to a crisp or anything.

“You took the body?” Itachi asked.

Sasuke nodded. There was so much more he wanted to say, so many things he wanted to ask, but not now. Not in front of Karin and Suigetsu. Besides, for the first time in years Itachi wasn’t going anywhere.

Itachi fell in beside him as they resumed traveling.

“What I told you about the Mangekyou was not a lie. It does cause blindness, unless you get an eternal sharingan.” Itachi hesitated before quietly continuing. “I would like to swap eyes with you, if a decent medic is available.”

Sasuke swallowed. If the Mangekyou truly led to blindness, it was a generous offer. Also kind of creepy. Who wants to go around with someone else’s eyes? Unless they’d already lost their own, like Kakashi, that is. But this offer was about more than just preventing blindness. It was, in some ways, a gesture of reconciliation. 

And maybe that was okay.


	22. Whittling Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuff happens. ;) 
> 
> More seriously, though, Team 8 faces Kakuzu and Hidan while Team 7 and Team Gui begin their own mission.

A scythe flew through the air, digging into Shino’s arm before Hidan brought it back with one tug. Hidan looked at his scythe in surprise, his eyes narrowing when Shino burst into a swarm of buzzing bugs. 

He made a frustrated noise. “You’re good, seriously. But not good enough! Since you’re not our target, I can fulfill my religious obligations by slaughtering the lot of you!” He threw his blade at another ninja, a Mist ninja wearing black, square-rimmed glasses, who batted the scythe away with a giant dual-handed sword.

Shino had been pleased to discover that Chojuro, the Mist ninja, was quite talented. Between his bugs, Chojuro’s sword skills, and Kurotsuchi’s Earth skills they were doing a good job of preventing Hidan from drawing any blood. Shikamaru had drilled into their heads that blood was the key. Their plan was to separate Hidan from his partner and use Shino’s kikaichu to drain his chakra. Shino’s bugs were already in place, now it was just a matter of time.

He hoped that Hinata and Kiba were working well with that Cloud Ninja, Darui. If Hidan was anything to go by, they would need all the help they could get.

 

********************************

 

“Fang Wolf Fang!” Kiba shouted as his combined form spun through the air, targeting one of the strange black creatures that had materialized from their strange opponent. Darui’s lightning attack had already taken one of the creatures out, but there were too many for him to handle all at once.

Even if Kiba didn’t manage to defeat his target, keeping it occupied and away from his team members was worth the attack. Hinata had managed to block some of Kakuzu’s tenketsu points, but Kakuzu was still able to fend off her attacks while directing four of his creatures. Kiba hoped that Shino was doing better than they were, and sent up a silent prayer of thanks that they had managed to separate the duo. He shuddered to think of what it’d be like to fight Kakuzu and Hidan together.

 

********************************

 

“Finally, we have the chance to show off our youth!” Lee pumped his fist in the air as he shouted.

Neji shared a bemused glance with Tenten. Even though Lee’s enthusiasm exasperated him, Neji couldn’t deny that he was also looking forward to the upcoming fight. If Naruto’s visions were anything to go by, they would be preventing a truly terrible future.

He was just glad that they’d had time to recover from all Naruto’s revelations. His team had acted weird for the first month or so, and it had taken a few tough missions and some hard words before they’d eased up on their protectiveness. 

While he had no intentions of dying young, the ninja profession was a dangerous one, and he could think of worse ways to go. He had chosen this life, and while he hoped he never had to sacrifice himself he found his team’s attempts to protect him somewhat insulting. Eventually his team had come to an agreement and the others eased up on their overprotectiveness. His gaze softened as he glanced at Tenten. A number of things had changed since Naruto showed them Neji’s death, and some of those changes were pretty good.

Now, though, it was time to meet Team 7 and begin the next phase.

 

********************************

 

Sai wasn’t sure what to make of their current mission. It would be good to have Team 7 back together again, of course. He had grown quite comfortable with his teammates, though he still didn’t really understand them. Sakura, in particular, fascinated him. She could destroy walls with a single punch, heal with a touch, and was utterly loyal to her friends. She cared deeply, even if she showed it by acting tough. 

And then there was Sasuke, whose competence and silence were somewhat soothing to Sai. He reminded Sai of some of his fellow Root ninja, though underneath the stoic exterior he sensed that Sasuke was not… broken… the way most Root were. Sasuke had emotions, strong ones, and the way he used those emotions to push himself fascinated Sai.

And then there was Kakashi. Kakashi, who actively encouraged Sai to break the rules. To think for himself.

Well, all of Team 7 did that, to be honest. Those mandatory team discussions had influenced Sai more than he had expected. He found himself questioning things that he had blindly accepted before, and it had made for some uncomfortable moments. Especially when he looked at his fellow Root agents and realized how much they had given up their ability to think for themselves. Realized how much they had been trained and shaped to give up any semblance of self-determination, all to support a man who hadn’t shown he deserved such loyalty.

Ever since their first Team 7 conversation, he’d grown curious about ethics and had checked out most of the books in the library. His curiosity had since expanded to include books on body language and social behavior. He wasn’t sure he understood everything correctly - why was it worse to throw one person onto a train track in order to save five, than it was to divert the switch of the train so that it ran over one person instead of five? Wasn’t saving five lives worth more than one, regardless of how it was done? 

And as for human behavior - he wasn’t sure whether his books were incorrect or if his understanding was. For example, according to his books Sakura must really like Ino, and vice versa. Their body language showed a closeness that went beyond friendship and rivalry... but they didn’t seem to be dating so maybe the books were wrong?

Sai silently put those thoughts away and shifted his focus to the mission. They were going to work with Team Gai, officially to track down Sasuke and return him to the village, but actually moving into a position from which they could provide support to Naruto and his team whenever they made their move.

This mission was important, not just because of the visions his friends had told him about. Not just because they would prevent a Fourth Shinobi War, and the revival of some sort of Rabbit Goddess. 

He felt like he owed Naruto, and his team. It was… strange. Naruto had been his target, the reason he had been assigned to Team 7 in the first place. He could tell that his teammates still had strong feelings for Naruto, and sometimes it made him feel like he wasn’t truly a member of Team 7. He just didn’t have their history. Still, he and his teammates had learned to work together, and work together rather well. If he had known who Naruto was when he’d met him, he would probably have reacted differently - but he hadn’t. All he’d seen was another ninja there for the Chunin Exams. Sure, the Moon ninjas had seemed a little off, but nothing that made him suspect they were jinchuriki in disguise. And Naruto- Naruto hadn’t really pinged on his awareness at first, other than that he was bright, and loud, and fit in socially in a way that Sai never had. Still, Naruto-as-Souta never made Sai feel left out, or excluded. He and his teammates seemed to accept Sai despite his awkwardness.

Now that he knew who they really were, it felt like they had accepted him as another member of Team 7. It was… nice. And they had taken care of Danzo, freed Sai from Root, and were apparently trying to save the world. Sai was determined to do his part to the best of his ability. At least his Root training, for all it’s problems, meant his best was pretty good.

  
  


********************************

 

“You heathens will soon know the power of Jashin!” Hidan launched his scythe at Kurotsuchi, who threw up a wall of earth to block it. Chojuro dashed forward to strike with his sword, but Hidan had recovered and dodged before he could get there. 

“It’s useless!” Hidan cackled madly. “Soon! Soon you will- “

He stopped mid-tirade, and suddenly collapsed. 

Shino slowly walked towards Hidan. “He was a truly dangerous opponent. Why? Because it took far too long for my kikaichu to drain his chakra. I am glad to have such skilled companions.” Shino made a beckoning gesture. A number of kikaichu rose from Hidan’s body and flew towards him.

Kurotsuchi and Chojuro soon joined him. 

“A very dangerous ninja.” Chojuro gazed down at the ninja.

“If he’s as immortal as they say, this isn’t nearly enough to take him down.” Kurotsuchi commented.

Chojuro nodded, and readed his sword. With one swing he chopped off Hidan’s head. Kurotsuchi picked it up off the ground. “Huh. He doesn’t seem to be dead yet.” She readied a couple of sealing scrolls. “I wonder what will happen if we seal his body in separate scrolls.”

Shino nodded agreement. 

“Oi! Shino! You guys done over here!” Kiba loud voice reached Shino before the rest of his teammate came into sight. 

“We were just finishing.” Only those who knew Shino well could detect the hint of relief in his voice. “I take it you are done with Kakuzu?”

“Yep. It really helped that he was vulnerable to Darui’s lightning.” Kiba gave Darui a slap on the back. “Hinata’s ability to block his tenketsu points was pretty useful, to.”

Hinata blushed slightly at the compliment.

“Now we just have to head back and give our report. How dull.” The bruises, tears and burn marks of a hard fight belied the bored expression on Darui’s face.


	23. Showdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke gets the call, and rushes off to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. *scratches head sheepishly*. I'd had an interview some months back, and was too jittery to really write anything. I sort of wanted to update when I had good news? But then I didn't get that job, and had to focus more on job hunting, and somehow days turns into weeks turned into months and I just didn't really write much of anything. 
> 
> But hey, I've got an offer (or two. Or three, really). And am mostly just doing the paperwork required to start. So I'm feeling happier and wanted to finish this up while I had some free time. I think it'll only be another chapter or two before it's done, though no promises on when I'll write them.

Sasuke sped through the trees, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He could tell by the (large and  _ powerful _ ) chakras that something big was going down, most likely with Naruto and his team of jinchuriki. Finally,  _ finally _ , they were making their move. 

He just hoped he got there in time.

He had known this was coming, and when Itachi first arrived he had been worried about leaving his brother behind. They had reached an understanding of sorts while recovering from the eye exchange, their mutual blindness somehow making it easier to say the things that needed to be said. Although their relationship was still…  _ fragile _ … Sasuke found himself uncomfortably aware of just how unused to happiness he was. Whenever Itachi looked at him a certain way, or teased him like his big brother used to, all their history seemed to fade and everything seemed  _ right _ . He had his brother back, until the illness that Kabuto and Orochimaru couldn’t seem to cure killed him. 

Sasuke wasn’t sure about a lot of things, but he wanted to spend however much time he had with his brother figuring some of those things out.

Which meant he wasn’t happy about leaving his brother behind, even though he also was determined to be there for Naruto.

Itachi, somehow sensing his dilemma, told him that he  _ wanted _ Sasuke to go. Wanted the closure of knowing Akatsuki had been defeated. Having his brother’s support had been… liberating. It allowed Sasuke to focus on what he needed to, on recovering from the eye surgery and preparing to do his part in the coming battle.

And now, that time was here. Naruto had left some signalling seals behind, but even without their sudden glow he would have known. Nobody could miss those massive chakra signatures.

Sasuke paused to slash his way through a couple of white tree-like men, here in the real world just like they’d been in Naruto’s visions. He wondered what they were doing here, but refused to let the thought delay him.

He was able to distinguish a few of the massive chakra signatures, one of which must be right about…  _ there! _

What looked like a giant beetle - most likely Fu in Tailed Beast Mode - rammed into a giant flying bird. Sasuke could just make out a blonde-haired ninja flying on it’s back. The white bird looked like something else he’d seen on the jinchuriki video, from the Akatsuki fight with Gaara.  _ That was the Akatsuki member who used explosives, right? _

He powered up his Susanoo and swung his giant sword at the bird, shearing a wing off.    
“Do you need any help?” he called to the giant beetle. He didn’t really want to stay, too worried about Naruto, but… Deidara reportedly was vulnerable to lightning, and it felt wrong to let Fu fight him alone.

“Go!” a deep and loud voice called out. “I can hold out here, Naruto and Gaara need the help.” 

Sasuke nodded and sped on, straight towards the next cluster of massive chakra signatures.

He slowed down as he grew closer, pausing to take stock of the situation. Naruto and a clone were surrounded by a golden glow and standing next to Gaara. A pile of rubble surrounded them, as though something had exploded outwards, the broken rocks all centered on their location. They were facing off against Kisame and a red-headed ninja that appeared to be controlling a massive horde of puppets. From what he recalled, the red-head was probably Sasori, known for his puppetry and poisons.

Sasori threw a barrage of weapons - most likely poisoned - at the jinchuriki, but Gaara blocked them with a wave of sand. Kisame slashed through the sand with his sword, the sword - Samehada - absorbing the infused chakra and forcing that section of sand to collapse. 

And then a man wearing an orange mask phased in, reaching for one of the Narutos. The other Naruto swung a staff at the man, who phased through the attack - and the Naruto he was targeting.

“You’re being used!” Naruto called out. “Zetsu was using everyone! Madara, you, he was going to bring back the moon goddess.”

“What does it matter?” the masked man spoke harshly, no sign of hesitation in his voice. “This world is completely worthless.” He phased out, only to reappear behind one of the Naruto clones. The other Naruto quickly jabbed at the man with his staff, and he promptly phased out again. 

When he next appeared, the masked man stood out of reach and appeared to study his opponents.

Sasuke reviewed everything he knew about Akatsuki - that must be Tobi. Itachi only knew him as some sort of Akatsuki groupie, but from what he recalled of the video and Shikamaru’s briefing he was much more that that. If he recalled correctly, Tobi had some sort of space/time jutsu that allowed him to send himself and others to some other dimension, but he was unable to launch an attack when using his jutsu to avoid another.  

That must be what Naruto - or his clone - was doing. So long as one of them kept an eye out for Tobi and attacked at the right time, Tobi was too busy avoiding the attack to use his jutsu on the others.

Naruto and Gaara seemed to be holding out for the moment, but they were facing three S-class criminals. He readied himself, launching into action the next time Kisame swiped through Gaara’s wall of sand.

A clang resounded through the air, announcing Sasuke’s arrival as he blocked Kisame’s sword.

“Itachi’s little brother” Kisame gave Sasuke a toothy grin. “I always wanted to test myself against the sharingan.”

“Sasuke! You made it!” Naruto yelled excitedly.

Sasuke grunted an acknowledgement but kept his eyes on Kisame. He didn’t expect to be in the same class as one of the Seven Swordsmen, but he was the one best suited to taking him on. Samehada was a huge danger to the jinchuriki, it’s ability to steal their chakra negating their power and strengthening their enemy. He could see why Naruto and Gaara hadn’t gone into Tailed Beast mode, their gigantic size would make it too difficult to avoid Kisame and Tobi.

Kisame launched a series of attacks at Sasuke, each of which he barely managed to deflect. Sasuke felt a fierce joy rising through him as he savagely grinned.

“Not bad,” Kisame complimented Sasuke. “I can see the family resemblance.”

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He knew Kisame was just trying to rile him up, but he had never liked such comparisons in the first place. To make things worse, he still had to act like the revenge-driven little brother, and he didn’t want to. Itachi hadn’t said much, but he could tell that his brother had respected Kisame and disliked lying to the man. He launched a flurry of strikes, hoping to keep Kisame too busy to talk.

Sasuke’s arrival had helped shift the balance in the battle, but the glimpses of battle he caught between clashing with Kisame made him admit that it wasn’t enough. Sure, Sasuke was able to keep Kisame occupied… but he was a long way away from defeating the swordsman. Gaara and Naruto were fending off the puppets for now, but they had to keep a constant eye out for Tobi and couldn’t fight at their full potential. 

Kisame started a counterattack that soon demanded Sasuke’s full attention. He began breathing heavily as he continued to engage the blue-skinned swordsman. His opponent, unfortunately, barely seemed to be breathing hard. 

Sasuke was wracking his brain for some sort of solution when help finally arrived.

“Leaf Whirlwind!” A voice boomed across the battlefield as a blur of green launched itself at Kisame. Gai-sensei launched a series of kicks that pushed the swordsman back. He then pulled out a nunchaku and began twirling one of the sticks around. 

Gai’s timely arrival gave Sasuke a much needed breather, and he took the opportunity to check on Naruto. He breathed a sigh of relief when he caught sight of his team. Sakura and Sai had joined Gaara and one of the Narutos against the puppetmaster. Kakashi and the other Naruto were facing the masked man.

“We’ve got this” Neji placed a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder, Tenten and Lee close beside him. “Go. Join your team.”

Sasuke nodded. Before he could decide which fight to join, Kakashi, Naruto and the masked man winked out of existence. 

_ Well, that settles that. _

Sasuke body flickered across the battlefield, appearing alongside Sakura, Sai, Naruto and Gai. It felt… good to have Team 7 together again. Somehow  _ right _ . His gaze flickered over his teammates, Naruto falling in beside them as though he’d never left. Gaara stepped to Naruto’s left and gave Sasuke a nod. With a wave of his hand, a blast of sand caught the next barrage of weapons.

“Watch out!” Naruto warned. “Practically everything he uses is poisoned.”

Sakura nodded and clenched her hands into fists. “Just let me get close enough and I can take him out.”

“I can provide some shielding, but you’ll have to move faster than my sand to catch him.” With a wave of his hand Gaara sent his sand sweeping forward.

“I can surround you with clones, they’ll stop anything Gaara’s sand can’t.” Naruto cast the Shadow Clone technique, surrounding them with hundreds of copies.

“I’ll send my Ink Clones into the sky, they should be able to block anything in the air.” Sai pulled out paper and ink and started drawing.

“And I’ll protect our backs,” Sasuke still had enough chakra to call Susanoo if needed. His fight with Kisame had been more physical than anything else. He turned to keep one eye on Sakura and another on Kisame, occasionally sweeping the area for any sign of Kakashi or the masked man.

Sakura gave everyone a few minutes to prepare, then gave a nod and took off. Sai sent a flock of ink birds into the air, where they blocked any attack from above. Gaara sent his sand racing forward like water bursting from a dam, sweeping aside every obstacle.

Sakura burst forward in a sprint, numerous Naruto clones transforming to look like her on either side. She blended into the flood of clones, all of which soon outpaced Gaara’s sand, a wave of Sakuras flooding the area, the edges throwing up sprays of smoke as clones were dispersed by puppets.

In a quick burst of speed, Sakura reached the puppet master at the center. With one punch, he broke into thousands of tiny pieces, the puppets under his control falling like rain.

Everything stopped. Was that it? Had they succeeded? 

Before they could relax their guard, motion caught Sasuke’s eye. Another puppet rose from the wreckage and darted towards Sakura. An Ink Snake, previously hidden, rose up to wrap itself around the puppet before it could attack. A Naruto clone wrapped itself in a golden glow and punched the puppet. This time, Sasuke caught the motion of a small cylinder as it slipped out of the puppet’s chest and moved towards another.

“Get that puppet piece!” he commanded, turning to launch a fire jutsu at it. Gaara had already sent his sand that way, encasing the cylinder. Sasuke’s fire caught up with Gaara’s sand just as he moved to crush the cylinder, turning the sand into glass and shredding everything in the vicinity.

A few of Naruto’s clones dispersed as they stood between Sakura and the shards of glass.

“One down” Sai commented, staring at the wreckage.

Before they could say anything more, Naruto and Gaara gave a small jerk and stared off in the distance.

“FU!” Naruto yelled. Naruto and Gaara rushed off, a golden glow beginning to surround Naruto. Sasuke’s eyes grew wide as the jinchuriki took on the shape of their Tailed Beasts, a giant nine-tailed fox and tanuki bounding towards where he’d last seen the giant beetle.


	24. Every Ending is a New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finale

Sasuke gave a low growl, called up his Susanoo, and took off in the direction Naruto and Gaara had gone. He didn’t know what caused them to rush off like that, but he was not about to let them handle whatever it was alone.

At least it was impossible to lose them. All he had to do was follow the giant fox and tanuki.

He soon came across a site of devastation. Leaves and trees were devastated in a wide circle. The fox and tanuki slowed down as the approached a giant… cocoon? Whatever it was, it probably had something to do with Fu. 

Deidara was still flying on his giant bird. Or was it a dragon?

“That cocoon withstood my C-4 Garuda, hmm. Did you like my art? I worked hard to create that masterpiece, hmm,” the blonde shinobi raised his hands in victory. 

The tanuki took a deep breath and launched a wind bullet at the flying ninja, as the giant fox lashed out with a tail. 

“You have no appreciation for art!” Deidara complained as he dodged their attacks. He flew a little higher, and as he turned he made eye contact with Sasuke.

“Those eyes… Itachi’s little brother, hmm?” Deidara’s eyes took on maniacal gleam as the ninja began to laugh. “I had planned on showing Itachi that my art is better, but you took that away from me.” Deidara glanced at the giant fox and tanuki moving towards him.

“I’ll show you all!” He ripped of his shirt, revealing a large mouth on his left chest, sewn shut. He used the mouth on his hand to tear the thread and ripped out the stitches. 

“Ha, ha, ha!” an edge of madness crept into his voice as he shoved some of his explosive clay into the mouth on his chest. “Behold… my masterpiece!”

Black lines spread out from the site, encasing the ninja in a web of fine lines. 

“Self-destruction! Death will transform me into a work of art!”

The lines spread farther and farther, and Deidara began to grow transparent. “I will make an explosion unlike any of the others… a blast that will cover more than 10 kilometers, a creation worth of praise! My art...”

The ninja faded as the black lines collapsed into a black ball. “... is a blast!“

The giant glowing fox rushed to wrap the ball in it’s nine tails. Sasuke grimaced and rushed to reach the fox. Everyone was in the 10 km radius, and they didn’t have much time. He had to try  _ something _ , had to try…

**_This!_ **

As he touched the giant fox, he willed his Susanoo to form around it. He had never tried it before, but Itachi had indicated it was possible.

_ Please let it work, please let it work! _

Purple encased the golden fox, creating a layer of armor as it wrapped its tails around the black explosive. The tanuki added another layer of sand, all three of them working together to contain the blast.

_ Would it be enough? _

A moment passed. Then another.

Light burst through the cracks between the tails, shone through the layer of sand, and all Sasuke could do was grit his teeth and hold on tight.

Time slowed down and appeared to stop, as though the world was holding it’s breathe. He could see Naruto encased in the golden fox, determination written all over his face. Could see Gaara standing on top of the giant tanuki, frowning slightly in concentration.

A heartbeat.

Two.

And then light exploded everywhere.

 

********************************

Sasuke ached. Everywhere. Something felt off… he could tell he was lying in a bed somewhere, and that didn’t seem right. Where was he? How did he get here? There had been something… 

He struggled to open his eyes.

“You’re awake.” He recognized that voice.  _ Tsunade. A hospital? _

“It’s okay, you’re all okay. Go back to sleep.” A cool hand rested on his forehead, and darkness overtook him.

 

********************************

 

When Sasuke next woke up, Sakura was sitting by his bed. As he turned to look at her, he caught sight of Naruto sitting up in the next bed over.

“We did it, Sasuke!” Naruto beamed at him. “We really did it!”

“Wha- what happened?”

“You idiots nearly gave me a heart attack is what happened!” Sakura glared at them each in turn. “What were you thinking!”

“Awww, Sakura-chan!” Naruto grumbled. “We had to stop him…  too many people would have gotten hurt! Besides, I heal fast! I knew I could take it!”

Sakura sniffed. 

“What about Kisame? And that other guy?” Sasuke interjected. He didn’t want to hear them squabbling, though it made him slightly nostalgic.

“That’s hard to say.” Sakura seemed willing to let things go for now. Sasuke was sure it was only temporary. “We managed to subdue him after you guys went rushing off, but then Kakashi-sensei came back with that other guy - did you know he was Obito? Kakashi-sensei’s old teammate? But then some of those white plant things attacked, and we sensed the explosion, and in the confusion they both escaped.”

“Hn.”

“It was lucky the Kages had troops in the area. Tsunade and the other kages were able to mop up the remaining plant men. It took a day or two of fighting, and there may still be some of the plant-things wandering around, but they didn’t appear to have any true leadership. We managed to get you guys back to the medic tent while the shinobi forces dealt with the rest of the mess.”

Sakura paused for a moment. “Naruto and his team appeared to take care of Black Zetsu beforehand, that’s what led to the confrontation. Kakashi-sensei says Obito saw the light, so we don’t  _ think _ he’s going to be planning any more attacks.”

“And we heard from the other teams!” Naruto sounded far too energetic for someone laying in a hospital bed. “They got Kakuzu and Hidan, and Jiraiya convinced Pein and Konan to leave Akatsuki!”

“The future… ?”

Naruto gave a proud grin. “We did it! We shouldn’t have to deal with a Fourth Shinobi War, or the destruction of Konoha, or any more of Akatsuki”

Sasuke gave a pleased grunt.

Sakura hesitated for a moment, then gave Naruto a probing look. “So what happens now?”

Naruto scratched the back of his head. “I- I don’t really know. I hadn’t thought much past defeating Akatsuki, to be honest.”

Sasuke caught the unspoken thought - Naruto hadn’t been sure he’d survive - and glared.

But Naruto wasn’t paying attention as a wistful crossed his face, “I’d like to come home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'll leave the story here, for a couple of reasons really.
> 
> First, I'll say that the advantage of writing fanfic is that I don't feel I have to fill in too many of the gaps. You all know the story, you can image what Kakashi's confrontation with Obito went like. It was probably close to canon. I didn't feel I had to reinvent the wheel for that sort of thing, you know?
> 
> I thought about adding an epilogue, or making it more clear what happens next, but I think I like leaving it up to everyone's imagination. Do Naruto, Gaara, and Fu settle in Konoha as a team? Does Gaara go back to Sand? Did Naruto truly give up on being Hokage, or will he rediscover his dream now that Akatsuki is gone? Will Itachi truly die of his sickness, or will Tsunade be able to heal him as no one else could? 
> 
> I'm leaving a lot of questions open, but I hope/think I've wrapped up this particular stage well enough.
> 
> Sasuke and Naruto do ultimately make a pair, I've been writing with that intent all along... but I couldn't decide it it'd actually be a threesome with Hinata, and I didn't feel like making that definite in the end. 
> 
> I'm also losing interest in writing more, but I didn't like leaving it hanging, so this is what I came up with. I hope you all enjoyed it, and are okay with deciding for yourselves what ought to happen next.


End file.
